Spain’s bad bank, Sareb, has sold a package of 23 loans with a value of €198.2 million, in its largest institutional deal of the year.
The buyer was a group of funds advised advised by Canyon Capital Advisors LLC, a california-based hedge fund. The portfolio, which was named “Pamela,” was backed by 20 residential properties in Madrid.
Sareb described the deal as “one of the company’s highest valued deals to date,” in a press release.
“The sale demonstrates the gradual recovery in the housing sector and the international investor interest in the Spanish finance and real estate market,” Sareb said.
Sareb notes the deal comes on the heels of “the good results achieved in the land segment,” including land sales totaling €108 million as part of Sareb’s “Crossover” project.
Market analysts expect Sareb to accelerate sales as it looks to clear the books of bad loans, but progress has been slow, despite interest from institutional investors. The bad bank’s ability to efficiently dispose of billions in bad deals is considered a key component in any sustained market recovery.
Sareb only said the loans in the Pamela portfolio were a mix of “performing and non-performing loans.”
Sareb has been “slowly but steady fulfilling its disposal mandate, maximising the value of the assets in an ever more professional and competitive sector,” Jaime Echegoyen, Sareb’s CEO said in the release.
