US investor Oaktree Capital Management is reportedly in exclusive negotiations with German bad bank FMS Wertmanagement to acquire the Spanish Project Gaudi commercial real estate loan portfolio for around €500 mln.
US investor Oaktree Capital Management is reportedly in exclusive negotiations with German bad bank FMS Wertmanagement to acquire the Spanish Project Gaudi commercial real estate loan portfolio for around €500 mln.
According to a news report by Costar Finance, the board of FMS Wertmanagement has yet to approve the sale, but Oaktree is believed to be the only bidder left for the package.
FMS confirmed in February that it was launching the sale of Project Gaudì, its first European CRE loan portfolio. The lender had mandated C&W’s corporate finance team to sell the package, representing its entire remaining Spanish and Portuguese commercial real estate loan books, with a combined face value of €755 mln.
The Project Gaudi package comprises 18 loans secured by 15 assets including the €400 mln Hotel Arts in Barcelona, a five-star hotel in Cascais, five shopping centres, four business parks in Madrid and Barcelona, a portfolio of 17 self-storage assets; and a number of residential and industrial development sites.
The portfolio previously belonged to Hypo Real Estate – now known as pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank – and was transferred to FMS Wertmanagement in 2010 together with some €27 bn of Hypo Real Estate assets, following the lender’s collapse in 2009.
FMS declined to comment further on the sales negotiations. The lender still has just under €10 bn of real estate assets to divest, most of which are loans, a spokesman said. The aim is to divest them by 2020, having sold around €3.3 bn of assets last year.
SPANISH SALES
Project Gaudi is the latest loan portfolio to be put on the market by lenders in Spain. Bankia, a state-owned lender, is selling Project Commander consisting of €500 mln of real estate loans. The package, which is being marketed by Deloitte, includes 170 loans granted to 39 companies, largely real estate developers.
Similarly, BBVA is believed to be selling Castellana 77 as well as a portfolio of 14 hotels under the name of Project Otelo. The portfolio is being marketed through Aguirre Newman.