Spanish cash-strapped property company Metrovacesa has received three offers for its 26.8% stake in French office REIT Gecina valued at roughly €1.5 bn.
Spanish cash-strapped property company Metrovacesa has received three offers for its 26.8% stake in French office REIT Gecina valued at roughly €1.5 bn.
US private equity giant Blackstone as well as Crédit Agricole's Predica insurance arm and boutique firm Orion Capital Managers have tabled bids for the stake in the Paris-listed property company, according to a news report in Spanish paper Cinco Dias.
Predica already holds an interest of roughly 8% in Gecina.
Blackstone, along with Canadian firm Ivanhoé Cambridge, controls around 65% of a loan secured against shares in the French REIT. The debt was bought earlier this year from two of Gecina’s largest shareholders, Joaquin Rivero and Victoria Soler, who both filed for creditor protection last October.
The two business partners had pledged their combined 31% stake in Gecina as collateral for the loan. The highly-leveraged credit facility was provided in May 2006 by 13 European banks - mainly cash-strapped Spanish institutions and cajas but also French lenders Natixis and Société Générale.
Metrovacesa announced at end August that it was considering a sale of its Gecina stake to reduce its financial burden. The Spanish property company, which was taken private earlier this year, has been a major shareholder in Gecina since 2005. Its debt stands at €5.1 bn.
Gecina owns a €10.7 bn portfolio largely consisting of offices in and around Paris and has a market capitalisation of €5.8 bn.
