Sareb Sold 15,000 Assets In 2014

5 February 2015 – Expansión

The Asset Management Company for Bank Restructurings (Sareb) sold around 15,000 real estate assets in 2014, in addition to the 9,000 properties it sold in 2013, according to provisional data released by the company.

Sareb’s Secretary General, Óscar García Maceiras, provided this information on Wednesday during a conference entitled “Sareb’s role in the economic recovery” held in Valladolid, organised jointly by the Business Forum of Castilla y Leon and the Schola Foundation.

In his speech, García Maceiras highlighted the “full capacity” that society has shown to contribute to the clean up of the Spanish banking sector and the reactivation of the real estate sector.

In the two years since it was created, Sareb has generated turnover of more than €8,000 million and has sold more than 24,000 properties (homes, land, adjoining garages/store-rooms and tertiary assets), of which more than 15,000 were sold in 2014, according to provisional data released by the company.

García Maceiras said that this “dynamism” has allowed the company to fulfil “its primary mission”, namely the repayment of the debt issued by Sareb and backed by the State.

In this regard, he added that during its first 24 months, Sareb has repaid €5,000 million and has paid interest amounting to €2,400 on that debt, “and so has reduced the cost to the taxpayer of the financial restructuring by €7,400 million”.

During the conference, Sareb’s Secretary General reiterated the company’s commitment to the real estate sector and noted that in two years, Sareb has handled “more than 18,700 developer proposals, including the sale of collaterals, deeds in lieu, restructurings, disposals and other transactions”.

García Maceiras also highlighted the main challenges facing the company today, including the culmination of the change in its commercial managers, which, once the process for migrating assets has been completed, will be Altamira, Haya Real Estate, Servihabitat and Solvia.

Sareb is a private entity, created in November 2012, to help with the clean up of the Spanish financial sector and of the institutions that received state aid, explained the Company in a press release.

Sareb is committed to proceeding with the liquidation of the properties and loans it has purchased before November 2027.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake