Spain's bad bank Sareb has put a 鈧�300 mln portfolio of non-performing commercial real estate mortgages on the market as it looks to accelerate its diposal programme on the back of strong appetite on the part of foreign investors.
Spain's bad bank Sareb has put a 鈧�300 mln portfolio of non-performing commercial real estate mortgages on the market as it looks to accelerate its diposal programme on the back of strong appetite on the part of foreign investors.
The portfolio, dubbed Abacus, is the first bundle of loans to be put up for sale by Sareb which was established earlier this year to dispose of 鈧�50 bn of toxic banking assets. It includes 30 loans with a face value of over 鈧�300 mln which were formerly owned by Bankia and NovaCaixa Galicia. The debt is securitised against offices and retail units as well as parking spaces.
Bidders include US private equity groups Lone Star, Apollo, Cerberus, Blackstone, Centerbridge and Fortress, according to news reports.
Last month, Sareb also signed an agreement with local lender Kutxabank which agreed to provide acquisition finance of up to 鈧�1 bn for the assets sold by Sareb. The lending programme runs to the end of 2014.
'The agreement allows us to proceed with our disposal programme and to provide new financing options to our buyers,' said Sareb's managing director Walter de Luna.
In August the lender finalised the sale of a package of syndicated loans with a 鈧�245 mln face value to a unit of US hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital. The credit facilities, which have Inmobiliaria Colonial as borrower, were part of Sareb's 'Operation Bermuda' aimed at reducing the company's exposure to the Spanish listed property sector.
In early August, Sareb also completed the disposal of a 51% stake in a 鈧�100 mln housing package to HIG Capital鈥檚 Bayside Capital arm. The Bankia-repossessed portfolio, valued at 鈧�100 mln, included 939 housing units located in Valencia, Andaluc铆a, Murcia, Canarias and Madrid.
The transaction, dubbed Project Bull, was structured as a new vehicle - a Fondo de Activos Bancarios (FAB) - which will operate as a joint venture between Sareb and HIG. FAB is a special low-tax vehicle introduced by the Spanish government in 2012 to encourage international institutional investors to buy Sareb's assets.
Sareb was set up in 2012 following the transfer of some 鈧�50 bn of toxic real estate assets owned by nine major local lenders. The new entity bought the bad assets - in large part loans backed by residential real estate - for an average discount of 55%, and financed the operation with treasury bonds.
