CaixaBank to sell 80% of real estate assets to US equity fund

Catalan financial services company CaixaBank has agreed to sell 80% of its property business to Lone Star Fund X and Lone Star Real Estate Fund V, both part of US private equity firm, Lone Star Funds. Specifically, the deal includes CaixaBank’s real estate assets, which had a net value of 6.7 billion euros at the end of October, as well as its Servihabitat real estate services business.

The bank made the announcement in a statement, in which it also said the sale price will be 80% of the final evaluation of the real estate business, which will depend on the number of property assets that still belong to the bank because they have not been sold. The initial 100% evaluation of the business was estimated at around 7 billion euros.

CaixaBank said it expects the Lone Star deal to go through at the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019, with the final price to be set when the sale takes place. CaixaBank will transfer the real estate to a new company, 80% of which will then be sold to Lone Star, with CaixaBank retaining a 20% stake.

“The operation means securing our strategic targets in terms of cutting non-performing assets several years ahead of schedule, ensuring that CaixaBank has one of the healthiest balance sheets in the Spanish banking industry,” said the bank’s chief executive, Gonzalo Gortázar, in a statement.