GE Real Estate has reportedly offered EUR 4 bn for the properties being sold off by Spanish bank Santander in a sale and leaseback construction to fund its part of the EUR 71 bn consortium bid for Dutch bank ABN Amro.
GE Real Estate has reportedly offered EUR 4 bn for the properties being sold off by Spanish bank Santander in a sale and leaseback construction to fund its part of the EUR 71 bn consortium bid for Dutch bank ABN Amro.
Citing anonymous sources, Spanish business newspaper Expansion claimed that GE has lodged various bids for all and parts of Santander's property assets. The Spanish bank declined to comment and Mario Gunsmith, GE president for Spain and Portugal, said he could not confirm or deny the report. The deadline for bids was said to be 21 September. Expansion said that seven groups expressed initial interest in bidding for the property portfolio - but some dropped out, including ING Real Estate. In mid-September another newspaper said Santander had received several informal offers and the bank hoped to collect binding bids by the end of the month.
Santander said last June that the property sell-off could yield capital gains of EUR 1.4 bn. The total portfolio comprises 44 buildings and about 1,200 offices, including Santander City, the bank's 1.5 million m2 head office in western Madrid. The Spanish lender will only retain its office in Santander, where the bank was founded 150 years ago.
Santander is also selling a EUR 5 bn convertible bond to fund the ABN bid.