Spanish bank Santander is sounding out investor interest for non-performing real estate loans and repossessed property assets with a face value of around €15 bn, inherited through its takeover last week of ailing lender Banco Popular, according to financial newswire Bloomberg.
Bloomberg bases its reports on information provided by three people with knowledge of the situation.
Santander paid a symbolic €1 for Popular in early June in a sale brokered by European regulators after it suffered a run on deposits. Santander said at the time it would raise €7 bn in capital to shore up Popular’s balance sheet and embark on a rapid sale of its property.
Popular has €29.8 bn of property assets and soured real estate loans, according to a presentation on Santander’s website.
Santander chairman Ana Botin told Bloomberg TV last week that her plan to turn around Popular included selling at least half of Popular’s real estate assets in the next 18 months.
Popular ran into difficulty after investors baulked at the possible larger-than-expected scale of its real estate losses, causing its share price to plunge and making raising capital impossible.
Real estate assets that may be sold, according to Bloomberg, include Popular’s new headquarters and the Beatriz building in Madrid, whose tenants include US private equity firm KKR. In addition, 1,000 rented homes, land plots and offices in Madrid and Barcelona are said to be up for sale.
The proposed sales are separate from a process Popular had in place before it was taken over to divest a €480 mln package of non-performing loans backed by 16 hotels across Spain. The deadline for bids for those loans was 9 June.
