Sabadell Revises Down its Price Expectations for the Sale of its Property Developer SDin

21 May 2019 – Cinco Días

Banco Sabadell put its property development arm Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (Sdin) up for sale several months ago. Initially, the bank was expecting to receive proceeds of around €1 billion for the company, its employees and land. However, in light of the current climate, it is now revising down its expectations.

Investment funds are starting to face problems when it comes to generating returns from their investments in land and property what with many of the large property developers, such as Neinor Homes, slashing their short-term forecasts, the political uncertainty following the recent general election and the general nervousness that the current boom cycle is coming to an end.

As a result, the bank chaired by Josep Oliu (pictured above) is now hoping to receive binding offers amounting to around €900 million, which would considerably reduce the entity’s expected gains from the sale. Nevertheless, SDin owns around 300 prime plots and 130 promotions under development, whose combined valuation amounts to €1.3 billion, according Savills Aguirre Newman.

For the time being, Sabadell has four offers on the table from investment funds, including from Cerberus and Oaktree. The fund Kronos is also still in the running although it is less likely to prove victorious.

Sabadell had initially planned to close this operation by the end of June, but may now wait a little longer.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Ángeles Gonzalo Alconada)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Kutxabank Prepares the Sale of Residential Land Worth €700M

26 February 2018 – Eje Prime

Kutxabank is awakening from its lethargy in the Spanish real estate sector. The Basque bank, which resulted from the merger of three savings banks from the region (Kutxa, BBK and Caja Vital), wants to get rid of 40% of its portfolio of toxic assets, which would mean launching onto the market a portfolio of land and promotions worth between €500 million and €700 million.

This operation will be the second most important divestment to be undertaken by the financial entity, after it sold its real estate arm, Neinor Homes, to the fund Lone Star, back in 2015 for €930 million.

The objective of the bank is to take advantage of the good times that the residential market in Spain is currently enjoying to place its assets with international funds and new property developers, according to Vozpópuli.

This option that Kutxabank is considering comes at a time when the sector is complaining about the lack of developable land, which means that it is likely that the bank will easily find groups interested in acquiring its land. The plots are largely inherited from the merged Cajasur, a Cordoban entity that BBK integrated in 2010.

If it carries out the transaction, Kutxabank would join Santander and BBVA on the roadmap of Spanish banks with respect to real estate. The sale of a large part of the property held by two of the country’s major financial institutions last year, both to US funds, set a course that other smaller banks are now starting to follow.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ibercaja Puts 1,000 Discounted Properties Up For Sale

30 January 2017 – Expansión

The real estate portal Casaktua has launched a commercial campaign to sell a portfolio of almost 1,000 properties owned by Ibercaja with average discounts of 10%. By autonomous region, most of the assets are located in Aragón, La Rioja, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, the Community of Valencia and Cataluña, which is where Ibercaja has the greatest presence.

By type of property, the portfolio includes homes with between one and four bedrooms, which have an average surface area of 160 m2 and an average price of €64,000, having decreased from €67,200.

In terms of the non-residential assets, the portfolio contains a wide range of garages, retail premises, warehouses and storerooms.

Casaktua and Ibercaja have launched promotions on other occasions. At the end of last year, they put 1,300 homes on the market.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake