Spanish bank Popular has announced it is evaluating a number of options to dispose of its bad assets including a potential spin-off of at least €4 bn in real estate properties.
In a stock market filing to the Spanish authority CNMV, the Spanish lender said that the creation of a new vehicle is only one of the options currently being considered, but Spanish papers reported the group has already mandated Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Ernst & Young to create the vehicle before the end of the year.
The spin-off would involve some €4 bn of real estate assets, largely plots of land and residential units.
'Although the structure and the volume of the operation have yet to be decided, we estimate the size would be significant and in any case not below the €4 bn of gross assets,' the bank said.
The lender held over €16 bn of real estate assets at year-end 2015, which will be looking to gradually divest over the next three years.
