The Bank of Cyprus has reportedly decided to terminate the sale of Project Ariadne, a €545 mln nominally-valued loan portfolio after receiving bids which were deemed too low.
The Bank of Cyprus has reportedly decided to terminate the sale of Project Ariadne, a €545 mln nominally-valued loan portfolio after receiving bids which were deemed too low.
According to website Costar Finance, the lender will hold on to the assets for the time being to continue to make provisions over the course of 2015 and enable a sale at a later stage.
The non-performing loan package, secured by commercial assets in Romania, received a number of offers in December at a significant discount to face value.
Sankaty Advisors, a unit of Bain Capital, tabled the highest bid, offering €109 mln for the non-performing loan package, or about 20% of the portfolio's face value.
HSBC was mandated to sell the portfolio last summer.
Sankaty Advisors declined to comment.
Commercial real estate loan sales hit a historic record of over €80.6 bn in 2014, according to figures by agent Cushman & Wakefield. Another €22 bn of debt transactions are in the works across Europe.
Undoubtedly, the largest portfolio on the block is Germany’s WestImmo, whose sale has been resurrected by bad bank EAA after a failed attempt in 2011. The bank owns a €10.4 bn loan book.
TOP 10 LIVE CRE LOAN & REO SALES Source: C&W
VENDOR PROJECT TYPE COUNTRY FACE VALUE
EAA Westimmo CRE loans Germany €10,400m
Permanent TSB Project Leinster CRE loans Ireland €1,000m
Caixabank Bridge Portfolio CRE loans Spain €800m
FMS Project Gaudi CRE loans Iberia €755m
IBRC Project Pearl Resi loans Ireland €656m
Spanish Bank Project Toro CRE loans Spain €601m
Bank of Cyprus Project Ariadne CRE loans Romania €545m
Banco Sabadell Project Triton CRE loans Spain €500m
Permanent TSB Project Munster CRE loans Ireland €500m
Dunfermerline BS CRE Loans CRE loans UK €438m
