Financier SNS PF tests water with portfolio sales

SNS Property Finance has bundled loans in both its European and US portfolios to gauge interest in possible sales, CEO Coen van der Bijl and Chief Sales Officer Jan van Haarlem told PropertyEU in an exclusive interview. 'This is a test case,' Van der Bijl said. 'We’re checking to see whether there's interest.'

While declining to comment on the size of the portfolios, Van der Bijl emphasized the Dutch lender was not prepared to offload the assets at any price. 'It's a difficult game,' he noted, 'but we’re not prepared to give, say, a 20% discount.'

While conceding that a discount of 5% might be on the cards in some cases under certain terms, Van der Bijl stressed the company is prepared to 'sweat it out'. 'We've given ourselves four to five years to wind down the foreign lending portfolio and although we understand that some parties may think otherwise, fire sales are not on the agenda. Our aim is to protect value.'

The full story appears in the January/February edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to subscribe