Blackstone €3.6 billion acquisition of CatalunyaCaixa Hercules mortgage portfolio

Overview:

• Blackstone, through Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII and Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe IV, has acquired the Hercules loan portfolio from CatalunyaCaixa for €3.6 billion.
• The portfolio is made up of 100,000 residential mortgages with a total value of €6.5 billion.
• According to Bloomberg, the deal will see the portfolio transferred to a securitisation fund.
• 12 bidders, including Cerberus, Goldman Sachs, Lone Star Funds and Oaktree Capital Group, took part in the initial bidding round for the portfolio.
• The sale of the loans is part of a wider plan to privatise the bank by Spanish rescue fund FROB by improving its balance sheet. BBVA eventually acquired the bank for €1.187 billion after a competitive auction.

Sam Duke - Editor