Sareb Offers 10,000 Social Housing Properties to Town Halls

The Company for the Management of Assets proceeding from the Bank Restructuring (Sareb) is expanding its social housing offer during the Covid-19 crisis by 6,000 units.

The Company for the Management of Assets proceeding from the Bank Restructuring (Sareb) has launched an offensive to offer a portfolio of 10,000 social housing properties to Town Halls all over Spain. The intention is that they will use them to house families with economic problems resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, according to reports from El Confidencial.

Until now, Sareb had made 4,000 homes available to the administrations, but the crisis generated by Covid-19 has led the entity to focus its efforts on reaching agreements with as many administrations as possible.

Sareb to Sell Portfolio of 140 Flats in Catalonia

5 January 2020 Sareb announced that it would sell 140 flats, plus another thirty parking spaces and storerooms, in Catalonia. Many of the flats are currently occupied illegally by squatters and may now have to deal with a possible new owner, likely vulture fund. The sale follows a similar divestment of 400 properties late last year.

The bad bank has already evaluated the squatters using local social services and determined that they must be evicted.  In cases where the people living in the flats are determined to be vulnerable families, Sareb looks to arrange alternate living quarters. That was not considered to be the case in these circumstances.

Investment funds generally acquire portfolios such as this with significant discounts of up to 70-80% on the initial value. The new owners will have to incur legal expenses to remove any occupants and to subsequently renovate the homes, which are generally in rather poor condition.

The regional government of Catalonia, for its part, has the right of first refusal for all properties sold in portfolios, by banks or by Sareb.

En español

Sareb anunció que venderá 140 pisos, más otros treinta estacionamientos y almacenes. Muchos de los pisos están ocupados ilegalmente y ahora pueden tener que tratar con un posible nuevo propietario, probablemente un fondo de buitres. La venta sigue a una desinversión similar de 400 propiedades a fines del año pasado.

El banco malo ya evaluó a los ocupantes ilegales utilizando los servicios sociales locales y determinó que deben ser desalojados. En los casos en que se determina que las personas que viven en los apartamentos son familias vulnerables, Sareb busca organizar viviendas alternativas. Ese no fue el caso en estas circunstancias.

Los fondos de inversión generalmente adquieren carteras como esta con descuentos de hasta 70-80% sobre el valor inicial. Los nuevos propietarios tendrán que incurrir en gastos legales para desalojar a los ocupantes y posteriormente renovar las viviendas, que generalmente están en malas condiciones.

La Generalitat de Cataluña, por su parte, tiene el derecho un derecho de tanteo para todos inmuebles que vendan a través de carteras, bancos y Sareb.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Jorge Zuloaga

Translation/Summary: Richard D. Turner

Sareb to Sell Portfolio of Unfinished Developments

4 January 2020 Sareb is looking to finalise the sale of Project Esla, a portfolio of collateralised developer loans that it put on market almost two years ago. Esla is the first project of partially-built developments that the bad bank has attempted to sell.

The financial institution is reportedly creating a Bank Assets Fund (FAB) to sell the portfolio, the second time it has done so. The vehicle was designed for Sareb, with the advantage that it is taxed at a rate of just 1%, compared to a normal rate of 25%. The Spanish government created the structure to entice institutional investors to acquire the bad bank’s toxic assets.

An unnamed firm and Sareb are said to have already reached an agreement to sell the portfolio for approximately 150 million euros, including the necessary investments to complete the developments.

En español

Sareb está buscando finalizar la venta de Project Esla, una cartera de préstamo promotor con garantía que lanzó al mercado hace casi dos años. Esla es el primer proyecto de urbanizaciones parcialmente construidos que el banco malo ha intentado vender.

Según los informes, la institución financiera está creando un Fondo de Activos Bancarios (FAB) para vender la cartera, la segunda vez que lo ha hecho. El vehículo fue diseñado para Sareb, con la ventaja de que está sujeto a una tasa de solo el 1%, en comparación con una tasa normal del 25%. El gobierno español creó la estructura para atraer a los inversores institucionales a adquirir los activos tóxicos del banco malo.

Se dice que una empresa no identificada y Sareb ya han llegado a un acuerdo para vender la cartera por aproximadamente 150 millones de euros, incluidas las inversiones necesarias para completar los desarrollos.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Ruth Ugalde

Translation/Summary: Richard D. Turner

Grupo Abu Acquires Land in Seville

18 December 2019 – The Seville-based real estate company Abu has managed to finalise the acquisition of several plots of land that had once belonged to the La Trinidad glass factory. Abu took two years to reach an agreement with the 41 small owners.

The agreement will permit Abu to begin the development of the land under the Carmona-Ronda de Capuchinos Special Plan for Internal Reform. The land has a total of 29,000 square meters, enough for 200 homes. The development would also provide the city with 14,167 square meters of free spaces and 1,578 square meters for services of public and social interest.

Original Story: ABC de Sevilla – María Jesús Pereira

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Valladolid City Council Swaps Assets With Sareb in €6.8 Million

18 December 2019 – The City of Valladolid has reached an agreement with Sareb to exchange several plots of land in Viveros, Avenida de Burgos and Cuarteles for a plot of land housing the former school El Salvador, in a deal worth 6,850,065.50 euros. The agreement had been conditioned on the value of the land received not exceed the appraised value of the school land, estimated at €7.4 million. The property had debts of more than 20 million euros.

The city plans to build a new Justice Campus on the school grounds, while Sareb will develop subsidised housing on the plots of land.

Original Story: El Diário

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Sareb Looks to Boost Economic Growth in the Interior of Spain

17 December 2019 – Sareb has launched a campaign called ‘rural homes’ to incentivise the sale of 2,653 homes. The dwellings, which are located in small urban centres throughout Spain, start at 29,000 euros.

The Spanish bad bank owns a large number of assets in sparsely populated regions of Spain and would like to take advantage of the campaign to boost real estate sales and economic activity in those slower-growing municipalities.

The homes are located in 500 different small towns in Spain. There are 635 homes in Castilla-La Mancha, 404 in Catalonia and 323 in Castilla y León, accounting for 50% of the homes on offer.

Original Story: Idealista

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Centricus Still Leads Race to Acquire Haya Real Estate

10 December 2019 – The potential sale of the real estate asset manager Haya Real Estate is firming up as the new Spanish government coalition has made reassuring statements regarding the sale and the sector. After the elections on November 10, the left-leaning political parties PSOE and Unidos Podemos signed a pre-agreement to form a government. Market watchers feared that the new government would look unkindly at the sale.

Centricus is currently leading the race to acquire Haya, though DoBank, Intrum and Centerbridge are still seen to be in contention. Cerberus, which owns Haya Real Estate, is looking to finalise the deal by the end of the year.

The US firm’s sale of the servicer has suffered a serious of reversals.  Cerberus initially looked to list the firm on the Spanish stock market with a preliminary valuation of €1.3 billion. In March, the listing was cancelled due to doubts regarding Haya’s asset management contract with Sareb, and the price lowered to €1,2 billion.

Bids for Haya’s €42.431-billion portfolio are currently said to range between 600 and 700 million euros.

Original Story: Cinco Diás

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

 

Centricus Rethinks its Potential Acquisition of Haya Real Estate

2 December 2019 – Softbank’s Centricus investment fund is rethinking its expected acquisition of Haya Real Estate from Cerberus. The US firm originally valued Haya at one billion euros, though it dropped its asking price due to doubts regarding Haya’s contract with Sareb.

Despite Haya’s success in renewing its management contract with the bad bank, Haya’s revenues could still be reduced by 50%. Sareb also reduced the agreed-upon fixed fees and payments in return for variable payments. At the same time, Softbank as recently needed to inject large amounts of funds to save its investment in the troubled WeWork.

Original Story: Eje Prime

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Spain’s Ministry of Development Looks to Acquire Land from Sareb

25 November 2019 – Spain’s Ministry of Development (Ministerio de Fomento) is looking to create a partnership with the bad bank Sareb to help it achieve its goals under the Plan 20,000 housing policy. The government hopes to build 20,000 affordable rental homes to alleviate a lack of residential housing on the market and is considering buying land for the new developments from Sareb.

Original Story: El Economista – Alba Brualla & Rubén Esteller

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Sareb Chooses Haya Real Estate to Manage €8.4-Billion Real Estate Portfolio

5 November 2019 – Sareb announced that it has opted to renew its management contract with Haya Real Estate. Haya had already been acting as a servicer for a portfolio of loans and real estate worth €8.4 billion (net book value as of 12/31/18). The new contract will last for 30 months.

The contract is part of Sareb’s new business strategy whose ultimate goal is to “preserve or improve the value of its assets.” DC Advisory advised Sareb on the deal.

Original Story: Cinco Dias – A. Simón

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner