Canadian pension fund CPPIB has reportedly acquired a development loan portfolio with a face value of €1 bn from Spanish bank BBVA.
The so-called Sintra portfolio consists of loans backed by development projects in Andalusia, Madrid, Valencia and Catalunya, according to Spanish press reports.
Speaking at a conference held in Spain last week, BBVA's CEO Carlos Torres told the press that the sale marks the completion of the lender's Spanish real estate divestment strategy in a record time and two years ahead of originally planned.
'This loan sale is a further important step in addition to the major portfolio divestment to Cerberus,' commented Torres.
BBVA announced in November last year that it had sold an 80% stake in a residential portfolio of 78,000 assets to US group Cerberus for €4 bn. The deal, with a gross book value of €13 bn, also included the platform required to manage the portfolio.
The transaction was the largest in a number of real estate asset sales carried out by BBVA since the beginning of 2017. The Spanish lender said that it expects to reduce its real estate exposure to Spain to virtully zero by the end of the year, versus €21 bn at year-end 2016.
Contacted by PropertyEU, a CPPIB spokesperson declined to comment on the rumours. The transaction would represent the first loan buy carried out by the Canadian pension fund in Spain, where CPPIB owns a number of assets largely consisting of student housing facilities and shopping centres.
