EIRE: Sareb to dispose of 'significant' portion of its portfolio by 2017

Spain's bad bank Sareb is hoping to sell a 'significant' portion of its portfolio within the next three to four years.

According to Antonio Carrascosa, general manager of Sareb's major shareholder Frob, the bad bank is aiming to sell off a large chunk of its portfolio valued at over €54 bn.

Carrascosa told PropertyEU in an interview held at the Expo Italia Real Estate trade fair in Milan this week that the main criteria for selling properties would be their marketability and potential attractiveness to investors. Sareb owns a total of over 200,000 properties.

'We will first try to sell the best assets, and we should sell a significant portion of our portfolio in the next three to four years,' he said. 'However,' he added, 'this will also depend on the evolution of the market. We have a bit of room to sell at a loss - there is about €5 bn of subordinated debt, but we have to watch what happens in the market.'

Sareb, which became operational in February this year, recently put its first portfolio on the market representing a package of homes located in the south and east of Spain, in Andalusia and Valencia, as well as unfinished buildings. The assets could be worth about €200 mln.

Spain's bad bank was set up in 2012 following the transfer of billions 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.

Frob is the major shareholder in Sareb, with a stake of 45%.