London-based financial institution Barclays has put a portfolio of 34 bank branches in Spain up for sale. The lender, which is looking to sell through a sale-and-leaseback structure, has hired Jones Lang LaSalle to market the properties, which are worth EUR 25 - 35 mln.

London-based financial institution Barclays has put a portfolio of 34 bank branches in Spain up for sale. The lender, which is looking to sell through a sale-and-leaseback structure, has hired Jones Lang LaSalle to market the properties, which are worth EUR 25 - 35 mln.

'We are approaching investors for the sale and we hope to close the deal by the end of the quarter,' Andres Escarpenter, head of JLL's Spanish business told PropertyEU.

The portfolio is the fourth to be sold by Barclays in Spain. The UK bank, which has nearly 600 bank branches and offices in Spain, sold 24 retail units and commercial buildings to Redevco in July 2008 for some EUR 65 mln. Last year it also divested its Barcelona headquarters at Paseo de Gracia to Fundación Privada Vila Casas for some EUR 20 mln. The assets currently being sold are part of the portfolio of Banco Zaragozano, which Barclays took over in 2003.

This would be the latest asset disposal carried out in the banking sector in Spain. Last week, Banc Sabadell completed the sale of its Spanish real estate portfolio in a EUR 403 mln sale-and-leaseback transaction with UK investor Moor Park. The portfolio comprised 378 bank branches located mainly in Cataluña, Madrid and Asturias.