Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
29 September 2017 – Expansión
Sareb, the company in charge of liquidating the real estate portfolio of the nine savings banks rescued by the State, is seeking to streamline this process through an online channel aimed at institutional players only. The objective is to market more than €3,000 million in delinquent loans through the channel in 2018 alone, as the entity revealed yesterday at a conference with investors organised by SmithNovack in London.
With this portal, Sareb is seeking to not only enhance the transparency of these types of operations but also open up a new channel for smaller investors to be able to access the market. Ignacio Meylán, Director of Institutional Sales at Sareb, said that this initiative forms part of the innovation efforts being undertaken by the company, which is owned 45% by the State and 55% by private investors.
Milestones
During a preliminary pilot phase, the company invited around thirty investors to access a selection of loans, worth around €400 million, in such a way that they are able to submit bids on a loan-by-loan basis.
Meylán explained yesterday that the investors who have registered on the platform will have the opportunity to study the documentation and information relating to each loan, and then formulate their bids in limited and differentiated time periods.
Sareb is expecting to receive bids during the first half of October. The ultimate objective is to expand the core group of investors interested in these assets and, further down the line, take these types of products to local investors interested in acquiring the properties, both residential and other, that secure these loans.
Next year, the bad bank plans to launch six sales processes through this online channel. Each one will include loans worth at least €500 million, and so, it will end up putting a minimum of €3,000 million in toxic assets on the market in a single year.
Portfolios
In addition to this initiative, Sareb has just placed Portfolio Inés on the radars of the opportunistic funds. The portfolio comprises delinquent loans with a nominal value of €500 million. The entity hopes to close the transaction in October. The bad bank is also working on the launch of another portfolio, called Tambo, whose volume amounts to between €250 million and €300 million. The final quarter of the year is typically the most active for divestments of this kind.
The European authorities calculate that Europe’s financial entities hold almost €1 billion (€1,000,000,000,000) in doubtful loans on their balance sheets and that they are making their viability difficult in many cases.
A new record will be set in this market this year, since the start of the crisis, due to the Popular operation, the largest in the history of Spain, which was awarded to Blackstone.
Original story: Expansión
Translation: Carmel Drake
