Sareb completes institutional transactions valued closed to €850 million
Sareb has made significant progress in divesting its properties, via the completion of various transactions, primarily with international institutional investors. In total, the company has sold portfolios valued at €847 million in the final stages of the year.
“The diversity of the transactions that Sareb has completed are an indication of just how varied our portfolio is”, pointed out Jaime Echegoyen, CEO of Sareb. “The heightened levels of activity at the company in these final stages of the year are a demonstration of investor confidence in the Spanish market. We are particularly pleased with the level of competition in the processes and we reiterate our commitment to guaranteeing flawless divestments”, he added.
Amongst the transactions completed at the end of the year, the company sold the Agatha portfolio, which was comprised of two sub-portfolios. One of them was sold to a consortium lead by the investment fund Hayfin, and another to the investment company D.E. Shaw. The consortium acquired 38 performing loans with a par value of €194 million, secured with 29 rented apartment blocks primarily located in Madrid, whilst D.E. Shaw acquired 10 rented housing developments also located in Madrid and valued at €65 million. Irea acted as the financial adviser to Sareb, whilst Ashurst acted as legal adviser.
Sareb also recently sold the Olivia portfolio, comprised of seven performing loans with a par value of €140 million. The purchaser was the investment fund Hayfin. In this case, the loans are secured with residential and retail properties located in the province of Valencia. Irea acted as financial adviser to Sareb, whilst Hernández-Echevarría (HEYD) acted as legal adviser on the sale of this portfolio.
In addition to these sales transactions to international investors, Sareb is in the process of finalising the sales project known as Kaplan, via which it expects to dispose of performing and non-performing loans linked to small and medium-sized developers, with a par value of €234 million. The majority of these loans are secured by residential and land assets.
In addition to these transactions the sale of a loan portfolio with a par value of €133 million has also been closed. The portfolio, known as Meridian, is secured with 26 hotel sector properties in Spain, which comprises more than 2,700 income-producing rooms. The properties are located in six Autonomous Communities, with the largest number of properties in the provinces of Valencia, Barcelona, Alicante, Almeria and Cadiz. Irea acted as financial advisor and Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira acted as legal adviser on the sale of this portfolio.
Sale of office buildings
In addition to these four transactions the sale of four office buildings in Madrid to funds managed by Blackstone has recently been completed.
The properties were held in 2013 a Bank Asset Fund (FAB), known as Corona owned 100% by Sareb. The properties are all located in the northern area of Madrid and let with an average occupancy rate of more than 90%. On completing this transaction, the company disposes of almost 40,000 sqm of office space in Madrid for more than €81 million. Aguirre Newman and Clifford Chance acted as advisers to Sareb on the transaction.
