Tag: Robert Tchenguiz

Santander Offers €3bn for its own Ciudad Financiera

19 September 2018 – Eje Prime

Banco Santander could end up buying back its Ciudad Financiera. The Spanish bank has submitted an offer for around €3 billion for the complex in the framework of the auction organised by Commercial Court number 9 in Madrid to liquidate the assets of Marme Inversiones, the owner of the asset, according to Expansión.

Besides Santander, two other entities have submitted bids. They are the Kuwaiti fund headquartered in the British capital, AGC Capital Markets, and the British-Irani investor Robert Tchenguiz.

According to the most recent information, Blackstone was going to participate in the bid. Specifically, the US fund was going to offer more than €3 billion for the Spanish bank’s central offices.

In the end, both Blackstone and Centerbridge have ruled out participating in the auction, the resolution of which will be revealed within the next few days: the bankruptcy administrator could award the asset, or open another phase for the receipt of better offers.

Banco Santander’s Ciudad Financiera has been owned by Marme Inversiones (controlled by the investors Glenn Maud and Derek Quinlan) since 2008. The company filed for bankruptcy after it was unable to keep up the repayments on the loans it took out to sign the operation.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Centerbridge & Blackstone Join Forces to Bid for Santander’s Ciudad Financiera

13 September 2018 – Expansión

A consortium led by the US funds Blackstone and Centerbridge is emerging as the main favourite to buy Banco Santander’s headquarters in Boadilla del Monte (Madrid), in one of the largest real estate operations of the year in Spain, which is set to exceed €3 billion.

The court that is overseeing the creditors’ bankruptcy of Marme Inversiones, the company that has owned the so-called Ciudad Financiera Santander since 2008, has asked the parties interested in purchasing this asset to submit their binding offers by Monday 17 September at the latest. The objective of the bankruptcy administrator is to use the funds raised to repay Marme’s debt in full.

According to market sources, the funds GSO (a subsidiary of Blackstone specialising in restructured debt) and Centerbridge are preparing a joint offer that could amount to €3.1 billion. These investors are negotiating to finance their proposal with a loan that could be led by Deutsche Bank.

Second attempt

Both GSO and Centerbridge are now creditors of Marme, given that they purchased some of the debt from the banks that loaned money to the company back in the day. Their bid could be pitted against others from creditor funds such as Avenue Capital, according to sources close to the process.

During the creditors’ bankruptcy, which began in 2014, GSO and Centerbridge already tried to take control of the company, with a proposal to buy Marme’s share capital and retain the current debt. It was a similar strategy to the one pursued for several years by Aabar (an Abu Dhabi fund) together with the British-Iranian investor Robert Tchenguiz, after buying some of the debt granted to Marme by the bank RBS.

But the administrator has decided to conduct a formal auction so that the interested parties can bid together for the Ciudad Financiera and whereby allow all of the liabilities to be repaid. The creditors believe that offers above €3 billion will be necessary to recover all of the principal and interest.

Just as Blackstone and Centerbridge seem willing to formalise an offer in compliance with the conditions established by the judge, it is not clear whether Aabar is going to participate in the auction. In recent months, the fund has been caught up in a legal dispute with Tchenguiz regarding their joint investment in the company that currently owns the Boadilla campus.

The Kuwaiti fund AGC Equity Partners is also analysing the possibility of submitting an offer for the Ciudad Financiera. Almost two years ago, that firm submitted an offer for €2.7 billion to acquire the headquarters of the Spanish bank, but it did not get the go-ahead because the creditors’ bankruptcy was in an incipient phase and because Santander threatened to exercise its right of first refusal to buy back its offices.

Long-term rental

The investors Glenn Maud and Derek Quinlan, who already owned the Citi skyscraper in London, purchased the headquarters of the Spanish bank in 2008 for €1.9 billion, for which they used a loan from a group of banks led by RBS. Shortly after the acquisition, problems started with meeting the conditions of the loan, which ultimately led to the creditors’ bankruptcy of Marme Inversores, one of the instrumental companies created by Maud and Quinlan to carry out the transaction (…).

The main appeal of the Ciudad Financiera is the fact that the bank chaired by Ana Botín has committed to remain as the tenant for 40 years, until 2048. On that date, the Spanish entity may negotiate an extension to the lease contract or repurchase the property.

Three options

Once the offers have been presented next Monday before the Mercantile Court number 9 of Madrid, which is leading the bankruptcy, three possible alternatives may ensue.

If there are several attractive bids, the judge may open a process to competitively improve the prices proposed. If there is only one offer, of an appropriate value to pay the creditors, then it may be accepted immediately (…).

The last possibility is that the offers do not reach the estimated valuation. In that case, the judge may change the strategy and allow the piecemeal sale or liquidation of the different liabilities of Marme Inversiones (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Roberto Casado)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Blackstone Offers €3bn+ for Santander’s Ciudad Financiera HQ

10 September 2018 – El Confidencial

Santander’s Ciudad Financiera, the operating headquarters of the bank chaired by Ana Botín in Boadilla del Monte (Madrid), is being put up for auction five years after its owner, the company Marme Inversiones 2007, owned by several investment funds, filed for bankruptcy. After an arduous legal process whereby the bankruptcy administrator and the court managing the liquidation has released the asset, the central offices of Spain’s largest financial institution have been put on the market in search of a buyer.

According to financial sources close to the process, one of the most interested parties is Blackstone, the US hedge fund that has become Santander’s largest real estate partner after it purchased half of its portfolio of toxic assets last year. The US fund is negotiating the finishing touches for the presentation of its offer for the building where the bank employs almost 7,000 employees, including the office of the President, Ana Botín. According to the same sources, Blackstone is debating whether to participate in the auction by itself or to team up with the other creditors that supported the purchase of the Ciudad Financiera in 2008.

Of those, the presence of ING, HSH Nordbank, CaixaBank and Bayeriche Landesbank stand out, which 10 years ago granted a €1.575 billion loan to Propinvest to acquire Santander’s largest real estate asset on a “leaseback” basis. Other entities also participated in that loan including Deutsche Postbank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Raffeisen Zentralbank, which in 2011 started to sell its stake in the loan to vulture funds at significant discounts on the nominal value, when the owner started to realise that it could not afford to pay the debt.

One of the players that purchased that debt was Blackstone, together with other similar funds, such as Centerbridge and Avenue Capital. According to other sources, those investors are seriously considering submitting a joint offer on 17 September, the date on which the interested parties have to appear before the judge. That date is the one that has been set for the binding offers for all of the assets to be processed. If none are received, which is unlikely, then the Ciudad Financiera will have to be split up and sold off piecemeal.

According to these sources, Blackstone is now the main candidate, after two Arab groups placed tentative offers on the table that never proved successful due to legal wrangling and the lawsuits filed by some of the creditors, such as the Iranian Robert Tchenguiz. The investor, who owns several properties in London and is known for his idle lifestyle, was another person to take advantage of Propinvest’s bankruptcy to acquire debt at low prices and whereby become a significant creditor. Nevertheless, his problems with the Law – he ended up being arrested – have ruled him out of the process to take ownership of all of the Ciudad Financiera.

Arab interest

The player that came very close to acquiring Santander’s headquarters was AGC Equity Partners, a Kuwaiti fund with €3 billion under management, which received approval from Mercantile Court number 9, which was leading the bankruptcy of Marme. But its bid, which amounted to €2.5 billion, now needs to be updated, given that, according to various sources, the debt alone of the special purpose vehicle reached €2.8 billion, including senior and mezzanine. Therefore, the offers must exceed at least €3 billion, which means that this auction is going to turn into one of the largest real estate operations of the year.

The attempt by AEG, which was suspended when Ana Botín exercised the right of first refusal over Ciudad Financiera, came at the same time as the bid from Aabar, a company from Abu Dhabi, owned by IPIC, the owner of Cepsa, now renamed Mubadala. According to those sources, that fund is no longer interested in the auction and Santander has no intention of exercising its preferential right, as acknowledged by official sources at the Spanish entity.

The main attraction of Ciudad Financiera is that Santander, which financed the first operation with a loan amounting to €304.6 million to pay the VAT on the purchase, has committed to remain as the tenant of the property for the next 40 years, which means that the rental income is guaranteed.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Marco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

JP Morgan Negotiates €2bn Loan with Owner of Santander’s HQ

22 February 2018 – Voz Pópuli

There’s a new player in the complicated game of chess involving the bankruptcy and liquidation of the owner of Banco Santander’s headquarters, the Ciudad Financiera, in Madrid. One of the largest investment banks in the world, JP Morgan, is negotiating a €2 billion loan to unblock the bankruptcy proceedings, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli. JP Morgan declined to comment about the rumours in the market. Market sources indicate that the loan has not been granted yet.

In this way, the US entity would support one of the shareholders, the company Edgeworth Capital, owned by the Iranian businessman Robert Tchenguiz. That banker is trying to get Marme Inversiones 2007, the company that owns the office complex, to emerge from bankruptcy without having to file for liquidation. To this end, it has asked Mercantile Court number 9 in Madrid to give it the green light to negotiate an early termination for payments with the creditors.

That is where JPMorgan comes in. Tchenguiz has managed to convince the entity to consider financing almost €2 billion, which would have to be used to repay all of the creditors, including several banks such as CaixaBank, ING, RBS and Santander itself, as well as funds such as GSO (owned by Blackstone), Canyon, Burlington, Värde Partners, Centerbridge and Monarch.

Many of these creditors, above all the funds that purchased debt at a discount, agree with Tchenguiz. But not the other shareholder, the British magnate Glenn Maud, who is preparing to make a rival offer, or Santander, which is leaning towards the proposal put forward by the Arab fund AGC.

Status of proceedings

After years of bankruptcy and hundreds of resources, the situation is closer than ever to being unblocked. In fact, the court has already given the green light to the liquidation plan for Marme Inversiones 2007. The problem is that two other parent companies, Delma and Ramblas, are still immersed in bankruptcy proceedings. A resolution is expected before the summer.

Unless there is a new legal war, all indications are that the financial situation of the owner of the Ciudad Financiera will be resolved this year.

Along with the proposal from Tchenguiz, the fund AGC and the consortium Madison-Maud-GCA are studying putting between €2.7 billion and €2.8 billion on the table for Santander’s headquarters, within the liquidation process.

Together with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs is also positioning itself in this operation. It has been advising Santander for months on the solution that may be found to resolve the situation of its headquarters.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Owner of Santander’s HQ is Set to Emerge from Bankruptcy

26 January 2018 – Voz Pópuli

There is light at the end of the tunnel in the creditor bankruptcy of Marme Inversiones 2007, the company that owns Banco Santander’s Ciudad Financiera (in Madrid). This week, a key meeting was held to unblock the bankruptcy proceedings, with deliberation over several appeals, something that the courts will come to a decision about over the coming weeks.

The parties potentially interested in this process have started to take positions regarding the possible sale of the Ciudad Financiera, which could happen in the middle of this year. The best-positioned player is the fund AGC Equity Partners, with a proposal that values that bank’s headquarters at between €2.7 billion and €2.8 billion, as this newspaper revealed.

But two competitors have emerged: a consortium formed by Madison Capital, Glenn Maud and GCA; and a proposal from the Iranian-born financier, Robert Tchenguiz, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli.

The offer that most concerns AGC is the one presented by the US funds (Madison and GCA) and the British property magnate Glenn Maud, who was one of the original buyers in 2008. The price that they may put on the table is close to the figure being offered by the Arab fund, around €2.7 billion.

Months of advantage

Nevertheless, AGC is the favourite in the race because it has been negotiating the operation with Santander for several months. Santander is not only the tenant in this case, it also holds a small part of the debt and a right of first refusal. Having said that, the Commercial Court number 9 of Madrid has denied that preferential right until now. Be that as it may, an agreement with Santander would facilitate everything.

Meanwhile, in addition to these two offers, further competition has emerged in the form of Tchenguiz, owner of the company Edgeworth Capital. The Iranian national has been trying to harness his investment in subordinated debt for years. By holding one of the riskiest tranches, he has to make sure that the liquidation plan protects him, otherwise, he will be exposed to discounts. That negative scenario would become a reality with AGC’s liquidation plan.

For this reason, Tchenguiz is offering an insolvency exit plan in which he would become the owner of the Ciudad Financiera by purchasing the stake owned by Glenn Maud.

To complete the picture, we should take into account that beyond the bankruptcy of Marme Inversiones, two other companies in Spain are involved in this insolvency: its two parent companies, Delma and Ramblas. And that those creditors and investors are awaiting trials in the UK and The Netherlands. This complex legal battle is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Three Large Funds Offer €2,800M For Santander’s HQ

12 February 2016 – Expansion

The tortuous liquidation process of Marme Inversiones, the company owner of the Ciudad Financiera of Banco Santander, is on the verge of culminating the transfer of this property complex to a group of international investors for about 2,800 million euros. This is the amount of the tender submitted by the funds Global Asset Capital (GAC), AGC Equity Partners and Cruz Capital to the Madrid Court responsible for the supervision of Marme insolvency proceedings, the company that acquired Santander‘s headquarters in Boadilla del Monte (Madrid ) in 2008 for 1,900 million. Unable to meet the payment of the interests of the debt incurred in this transaction, Marme went to bankruptcy in 2014, and last year its receivers decided upon the company liquidation and the sale of its only asset, which is the office complex of Santander.

According to sources familiar with the process, during the auction, a tender was submitted by Aabar, Abu Dhabi sovereign fund, associated with the British-Iranian investor Robert Tchenguiz. There was also a purchase proposal by Azora Capital, a Spanish investment company managed by Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios.
 But these tenders were below the price raised by GAC, AGC and Cruz, an alliance that has beaten all the forecasts when approaching 3,000 million euros, 40% more than the market expectations.


GAC is a California fund, which has taken the lead of the consortium in the negotiations. AGC Equity Partners is an Arab investors vehicle, which owns Citigroup headquarters in London among other real property assets. Cruz Capital is a New York hedge fund (high-risk investments fund ). These companies also have the support of Glenn Maud, one of the original shareholders of Marme Investments, with 50% of the capital. The British investor, together with the Irish Derek Quinlan, acquired the Ciudad Financiera in 2008, thanks to a 1,850 million euros loan, led by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). 
Barely two years after the purchase, Marme began having trouble paying off the debt. The accrued interests have made the current liabilities of the company rise to 2,700 million. The money the consortium intends to pay  in order to acquire the assets of Marme would allow the return of 100% of the debt to the creditors of the company, should the judge approve the transaction. RBS transferred all its loans, which are mostly in the hands of funds. GAC, Aabar and Tchenguiz are among the creditors who bought pieces of loans. The only banks of the original loan that maintain their position are CaixaBank and ING.


Santander pays an annual income of about 80 million for its headquarters. Although it has the first refusal right to match the offer and repurchase the Ciudad Financiera, it is not expected to exercise it.

Original story: Expansion (by Roberto Casado)

Translation: Aura Ree