Spanish financial giant Banco Santander has received several informal offers from foreign banks for its EUR 4 bn property portfolio, according to Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias. The paper added that Santander hopes to collect binding offers by the end of this month. Santander announced last June that it was to sell off its property assets in a lease-back deal to help finance its part of a consortium bid for Dutch bank ABN Amro. The sale of the assets could yield capital gains of EUR 1.4 bn.
Spanish financial giant Banco Santander has received several informal offers from foreign banks for its EUR 4 bn property portfolio, according to Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias. The paper added that Santander hopes to collect binding offers by the end of this month. Santander announced last June that it was to sell off its property assets in a lease-back deal to help finance its part of a consortium bid for Dutch bank ABN Amro. The sale of the assets could yield capital gains of EUR 1.4 bn.
Santander will sell its entire property portfolio including 44 buildings and about 1,200 offices. The portfolio includes Santander City, the bank's 1.5 million m2 head office in Boadilla del Monte, western Madrid. The Spanish lender will only retain its office in Santander, where the bank was founded 150 years ago. Last week, Banco Santander confirmed it is also selling a EUR 5 bn convertible bond to help pay for its EUR 72 bn joint bid for ABN Amro.
