MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Santander is planning to sell toxic real estate assets with a nominal value of up to 5 billion euros ($5.28 billion), Spanish daily Cinco Dias reported on Monday.
The asset portfolio, dubbed Talos II, comprises bad loans, backed by mortgage collateral such as homes and commercial properties, that the lender could end up repossessing as a consequence of defaults.
Cinco Dias did not mention the price or potential discount on the sale of the assets, while Santander declined to comment.
Spanish banks were very active in the past in shedding real estate assets that went sour in the economic slump that followed the bursting of the country’s real estate bubble at the end of 2007.
Lenders are now selectively repackaging loans in an attempt to recover some cash from loans likely to go bad following the economic slowdown and the pandemic.
Non-performing loans at Spanish banks were still hovering at near record lows of 3.56% in August, far below the all-time high of 13.6% in December 2013.
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($1 = 0.9469 euros)
(Reporting by Jesús Aguado, editing by Inti Landauro and Kim Coghill)