Tag: propierties on sale

Sareb received this week the first offers for a portfolio of assets of 200 million Euros.

Sareb, the bad bank, receives this week the preliminary offers of the institutional investors interested in acquiring the first big portfolio on sale: the Bull Project. It includes finished assets in Seville and Valencia, along with other properties under construction with a value of 200 million Euros.

According to the established timetable, the deadline for investors to present their preliminary offers is the 6th June. One month later, the 15th July will be the moment to formalize the final and binding offers.

According to financial sources, around a dozen opportunistic funds would be analyzing the operation. Among them there would be Lone Star, Apollo, Colony, Centerbridge, Cerberus and Fortress.

After closing the first sales of assets to individuals and selling debt to Metrovacesa for 35 million Euros, the market is eager to see if Sareb settles on its first operation with big investors.

In some spheres it is considered vital that the bad bank closes as soon as possible four or five operations with opportunistic funds. These operations would help to settle reference prices for the assets, provide liquidity to the real estate market and attract other investors that are awaiting the first step.

Sareb has now six months to comply with its target of selling assets for 1500 million Euros in 2013. 

Source: Expansión

Project Bull: the first great operation of the “bad bank”.

The company created to check-out toxic real estate assets for more than 90.000 million Euros prepares its first great sale operation for the next 18th July. It will be called “Project Bull” and in order to manage it, Sareb has hired KPMG.

As informed by Bloomberg, the consulting company has identified a “pool” or package of properties in Andalusia and Valencia, as well as unfinished buildings, that will be put on auction on the 18th July, with a forecast of collecting at least 200 million Euros, according to the sources consulted by the agency. It will be the first serious test that will measure the capacity of the bad bank to attract investors interested in its assets.

“The success in the first sale would be a sign that there are opportunities here”, the analyst of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lee Tyrrel-Hendry explains. In his opinion, the investors are looking for good profit and Spain is one of the rare places that offers it, but this is due to the fact that “there are still a lot of risks and the economic forecasts continue to be very weak”, this expert points out.

The most important vulture funds in the market, such as Colony Capital or Apollo Global Management are awaiting this operation and will try to take advantage of the burst of a bubble that has reduced prices by nearly 40% from the peak reached in 2007. Their participation is vital for Sareb, as most of its forecasts depend on its capacity to attract foreign capital. Only this year it needs to sell assets for around 1500 million Euros. And in the next five years it intends to sell 45.000 properties, half of its portfolio.

The first sale of Sareb – the core of “Project Bull”- includes 38 finished housing developments (most of them located in Valencia and Andalusia) and at least another unfinished project. For Scott MacDonal, analyst at the company MC Asset Management, Sareb “will probably find buyers” as there is now a real interest in finding assets in Spain. The liquidity injections of central banks have impelled investors to look for opportunities and to demand riskier assets.

Source: Finanzas.com

Bankia finalizes the sale of its real estate subsidiary Bankia Habitat.

Nationalized banks continue getting rid of any business related to the construction sector. Bankia prepares the sale of its real estate subsidiary, Bankia Habitat. The operation, named Project Platform and launched at the beginning of this year, awoke the interest of more than twenty international funds and asset management companies. Now the process is in its final stage and Bankia will receive binding offers next week, according to sources well informed of the process. The proposals presented until now were not binding.

The acquirer of Bankia Habitat will assume the company, their headquarters in Madrid and Valencia, the technological platform for the management of awarded assets and 500 employees from the real estate subsidiary and the central services of Bankia. The properties and the credit to developers Bankia has in its portfolio (for 2900 million Euros and 2600 million Euros, respectively) will stay in the bank, that will sign a management agreement with the new owner. It is planned that the latter will also take charge of the assets transferred to the bad bank.

Among the international investors most interested in real estate assets who are looking for opportunities in Spain there is Morgan Stanley, Cerberus, Fortress, Apollo, Oaktree or TPG.

Bankia has covered all its affiliated shares at their market value. It still remains to see if the sale of the real estate subsidiary will be done with gains or losses. The bank presided over by José Ignacio Goirigolzarri considers that this disinvesment is key for two additional reasons: because it lowers the staff costs with the exit of 500 employees and because it allows the reduction of the number of layoffs that it needs to do according to the restructuring plan agreed with the European Commission.

Brussels demanded the cut of 6000 employees, but Bankia agreed with unions a minor adjustment: 4500 employees. The rest would come from exits of staff thanks to sales of affiliated companies, such as the case of Bankia Habitat. (…)

A dozen international funds search for opportunities in banks.

The hard adjustment process being experienced by Spanish banks is causing a dramatic increase of the number of assets on sale. Apart from portfolios of affiliated companies, the international funds are also looking at opportunities in consumer credits and in real estate management platforms.

Among these names, there are some of the most specialized management companies in the world, such as Apollo, Cerberus, Lone Star or the hedge fund D.E. Shaw. Also Fortress, Centerbridge, WL Ross, from the millionaire Wilbur Ross, Aktiv Capital, Lindorff, Oaktree or TPG. Why now? Because the market is more mature and operations are being closed at more reasonable prices, even in levels between 1% or 2% of the nominal value of the portfolio of troubled loans, for example.

The sale of credit portfolios will increase in the next few months. Iheb Nafaa, general director of Gescobro assures that forecasts show an increase of 50% of this type of operations during 2013. In total, the sector expects sales of portfolios for 15.000 million Euros this year.

According to Nafaa, many of the operations to be closed in the next few months will be transfers of recovery platforms, including credit portfolios and staff. Santander, Popular, Banesto and Bankia have already followed this path. Popular, for example, sold recently its recovery business to EOS for 135 million Euros. “The institutions have the possibility of obtaining capital with these operations, as the consumer portfolios need a lot of capital”, he adds.

BMN has put a portfolio of troubled loans on sale for around 1000 million Euros. “We think there is a great demand in this market and we want to take advantage of it, as other banks have already done”, sources close to the institution declare. Liberbank, for example, sold in February a portfolio of 574 million Euros in default assets from individuals and medium and small sized companies, which includes contracts from its subsidiary BANCO CCM, to Cerberus Capital Management.

These transactions have boosted in the last years. In 2009 and 2010, there were hardly any sales of portfolios. Two years ago, the market started moving and credits were sold for 8000 million Euros. This figure increased to 10000 to 12000 million Euros in 2012. “There are 20 or 30 great funds looking at opportunities in Spain”, Nafaa explains.

On the other hand, they are looking at opportunities in the real estate sector. “We will see many sales of joint portfolios of consumer and real estate credits”, Nafaa adds. In fact, the executives at Sareb are having meetings with foreign funds and could close a great wholesale sale in the short term. According to its new business plan, it is planning to sell credit portfolios for 12.000 million Euros in its first years in operation, hoping to gain 2000 million Euros.

But the nationalized banks have already put their real estate asset management platforms on sale. Bankia wishes to get rid of Bankia Habitat with its 500 employees. NCG Banco is also negotiating the sale of its subsidiary and the outsourcing of the service along with the staff, around 900 workers. The subsidiary, called Singular Assets Management Unit, is made of real estate assets and loans to companies and small and medium sized companies that have ceased payments, and to individuals, Abeta Chas informs.

Those funds which acquire these businesses could aspire to manage the assets from Sareb, a task which is now carried out by the institutions. Hence the interest shown by investors. (…)

Metrovacesa starts building homes after five years of inactivity.

In spite of the estimated one million homes remaining on sale in Spain, one of the greatest real estate companies in the country, Metrovacesa, has decided to resume its developing activity after more than four years with no activity.

The reason for this? The location of the project: in Aravaca, one of the residential areas in the outskirts of Madrid preferred by the middle-high class.

Since 2008, the real estate company, controlled by the banks Santander, BBVA, Bankia, Sabadell and Popular, has been focused in the patrimonial activity, as it has a wide portfolio of offices and malls in Spain and France and in getting rid of its unsold properties in different developments in Madrid, Málaga and Valencia. Now, it has seen an opportunity in the outskirsts of Madrid and has decided to promote a building of 15 homes in Aravaca. “Currently Metrovacesa is in its final step in the process of liquidating its properties, it merely owns 80 throughout Spain, and in the continuous study we carry out on the local market, we have detected areas with a real demand for homes, with certain features, areas where we own land and have the capacity of starting new developments”, they explain from the real estate company.

The properties have a surface that ranges between 100 and 265 square meters and its prices range between 383.000 and one million Euros. “Here it does not make any sense to build homes with one bedroom, but of three of four bedrooms, with an area for servants”, Jorge Pérez Curto explains, in charge of the commercialization. Among the 25 properties, there are duplex and attics with terraces of more than 100 square meters.

Currently, the project is the phase prior to commercialization, that is, Metrovacesa and its partner present the homes to a select circle of customers so as to launch it in May. “ The reception has been very positive. It is aimed at people that wish to live near to where they have always lived, with the services of a closed residential area”.

The main areas include gardens, swimming pool, a padel court, a gym and a sauna. “The finishing of the promotion is planned for the end of 2014”, the real estate company assures.

In the first quarter of the year, Metrovacesa had a turnover of 42,4 million Euros with an ebitda of 25,5 million Euros. In spite of these gains, the real estate company had losses for 17,7 million Euros.

Banks speed up the sale of non strategic assets in order to reinforce their capital.

Banks have placed the “For sale” sign on most of its assets and businesses. Either to reduce their balance, or to increase the capital base or even to improve their efficiency, financial institutions have speeded up the sale of non strategic businesses during the last few months. And, according to experts, this is only the beginning of a trend which will continue in 2013.

Those institutions that have received financial aid, such as Bankia, Catalunya Banc or NCG Banco, are the most active ones when negotiating disinvestments, as imposed by Brussels. Nevertheless, healthy institutions are also taking the initiative. (…)

There are all kind of different businesses on sale: insurance companies, fund and retirement pensions management companies and deposit companies. They are also studying the sale of more strategic areas for banks such as the recovery services, real estate management platforms or even the segment of credit cards. In the short term, nationalized banks may also transfer network of branches and participated companies.

Banks started to get rid of the insurance business once the crisis started. All institutions have obtained gains with the agreements on insurances or the sale of portfolios. These agreements will allow them to liberate capital, which is absorbed on a greater scale by insurances, facing Basel III.

In other segments, Popular has been one of the most active institutions in Spain. It transferred 51% of its fund management company to Allianz in 2011, it outsourced its business of custody and liquidation of national and international securities to BNP; and has closed the sale  of its recovery services to EOS Group and a portfolio of troubled loans of 1150 million Euros to Lindorff and AnaCap.

That type of business and portfolios is the one with the most agreements during this last year. Santander was the pioneer in this field, transferring its recovery subsidiary, Reintegra, to Lindorff, in 2011. Banesto followed its steps last year when it sold Aktua to Centerbridge.

Now, institutions such as Bankia and CaixaBank want to go ahead transferring their teams specialized in the management and recovery of real estate assets. Bankia Habitat, will be in new hands from May on. Meanwhile, CaixaBank wants to do the same with Servicaixa, according to Bloomberg.

The fund management companies are another non strategic segment, although the sale agreements are still scarce in this sector. One of the last operations, other than the Popular one to Allianz, is the sale of the management company to Liberbank, acquired by Banco Madrid.

Apart from the transfer or outsourcing of businesses and services, experts hope for more operations of strategic assets for institutions, mainly because of the requirements imposed by the troika in order to approve the Spanish financial rescue. Investment banks sources do not dismiss new operations such as the BMN one, which transferred the former Caixa Penedes to Banco Sabadell.

An increase in the sale of participated companies by nationalized and healthy institutions is also expected. La Caixa has already done so, with the sale of 3% of Abertis to OHL. The Catalan savings bank needs to close new disinvestments with the aim of complying with the new requirements from Brussels. (…)

The Government speeds up its strategy to sell properties belonging to the State.

In 2013, the Government wishes to speed up the sale and rental of buildings and plots in the hands of the Central Administration in order to continue fighting against the deficit and improving the functioning of the public sector.  According to a report accessible to this publication, the Government is “working on the identification of empty office buildings with no future administrative purpose, as well as on the evaluation of the possibility of placing them in the market”. They intend to “modify the urban coding of these properties before selling them, so that they may be used for lucrative purposes, thus increasing their value and the number of potential customers which could be interested in acquiring them”, the report declares.

In fact, some office buildings which could be “saleable” have already been valued. This is the case of the former headquarters of the national share market commission on Paseo de la Castellana, 19, in Madrid. Also the former studios of Radio Televisión Española at Paseo de la Habana, 75. There are still some buildings in the center of Madrid which are still graded as public equipment and need to be reassessed: this is the case of the headquarters of the former economic administrative court at Genova, 29 and the building of the General Directorate of National Heritage at Serrano, 35.

The Treasury Department has already taken into consideration the sale of these buildings. In order to place them at a better price in the market, the department controlled by Cristóbal Montoro points out “the convenience of selling them through competitive concurrence procedures, with openness and great publicity”. The Public Society of Real Estate Management of the Patrimony will be in charge of carrying out this procedure. The Treasury Department reserves the possibility of assuming the direct management of the operations should this be convenient for the operation.

But the plan to reduce the number of properties belonging to the State does not only affect the sale of office buildings. The sale of some plots is also being considered, but it is necessary to determine which ones can be sold. There are some in Madrid which comply with the requirements. There is a plot at Embajadores, 312, another at Francisco Remiro, 27 and another in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Arrollo Meaques) which could have “a suitability for building of more than 3000 square meters”.

There have already been significant savings thanks to the sale of buildings. Up to the 30th November 2012, according to the last information available, 7,2 million Euros had been deposited in the State´s cash register following the sales carried out by the General Directorate of National Heritage.

Without considering the figures of December, the income was already higher by 700.000 Euros than the one in 2011. The Housing Institute has also collected 44,1 million Euros in 2012 thanks to the sale of buildings and 1,9 million Euros for the Security Infrastructure Management. There have been savings for around 53 million Euros.

Nevertheless, the Government is not happy with the obtained results and detects that “in the last few months there has been a progressive deceleration in the achieved savings”. The State´s General Administration has 3035 properties in Spain and 567 leased buildings in other countries.

Source: Expansión