Cerberus Postpones Haya’s IPO until its Purchase of BBVA’s RE Portfolio has been Signed

26 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Cerberus is putting the brakes on Haya Real Estate’s stock market debut. The US fund, owner of the real estate servicer, has decided to suspend the process to convert its company into a listed entity until after it has signed the agreement that it reached last year to administer €13 billion of BBVA’s toxic asset portfolio, which is expected to be signed before the end of the year. In addition, the investment firm is waiting to see what decisions its partner Sareb will take regarding a portfolio worth €10 billion that it has recently put up for sale.

The fund, a giant in the sector with almost €40 billion in real estate assets, had planned to complete Haya’s stock market debut before the summer and it had even requested permission from Spain’s National Securities and Market Commission (CNMV) to seal the admission process on the stock exchange.

A few months ago, Cerberus engaged the services of Rothschild to lead the process to convert Haya into a listed company, whilst JP Morgan and Citi were making a Public Sale Offer to the servicer, hoping to obtain a valuation of around €1.2 billion for the fund, according to El Confidencial.

The US firm did not want Haya to debut on the stock market without being sure that Sareb’s mega-operation is not going to affect the valuation of its servicer. Currently, Cerberus manages €24 billion in assets for the so-called bad bank, which accounts for 60% of Haya’s portfolio. That percentage will decrease significantly when BBVA’s €13 billion real estate portfolio enters the equation.

In light of this move, the question now arises as to whether Cerberus will choose to maintain the same strategy of debuting on the stock market with the assets of third parties or to include the properties that are going to be transferred from the bank as its own.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake