Spanish ayes

29 June 2018 By Christopher Thompson Follow @CGAThompson

The lender has sold real estate assets worth 12.8 bln euros to Lone Star, at a better valuation than deals by Santander and BBVA. With prices recovering, Caixa could have got an even better outcome by waiting. Given the mess the sector has made, moving now makes more sense.

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Spain’s Caixabank said on June 28 that it had agreed to sell most of its real estate business to private equity investor Lone Star in a deal worth around 7 billion euros.

In a statement the lender said the transaction, which would offload 80 percent of its property portfolio including Servihabitat, a servicing company, is expected to have “a neutral impact” on the bank’s financial statement and boost its common equity Tier 1 capital ratio by 30 basis points. The bank put the gross book value of the real estate loans being sold at around 12.8 billion euros.

Caixabank added the sale is expected to produce cost savings of 550 million euros before taxes over the next three years.

Madrid-listed shares in Caixabank rose by 4.7 percent to 3.75 euros by 0830 GMT.

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