JPMorgan to lead Dutch bad bank bidding

Bloomberg

A venture between JPMorgan Chase & Co and private-equity firm Lone Star Funds is the leading bidder to buy Propertize BV, the Dutch bad bank that holds 5.5 billion euros (US$6.1 billion) of loans and real estate, according to a person with
knowledge of the matter.
Propertize may reach a deal to sell the firm in the next month, though talks are ongoing and could still fall apart, the person said, asking not to be identified because the sale is not completed. JPMorgan and Lone Star have been competing with bidders including a venture between Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Cerberus Capital Management LP, another person familiar with the matter said.
An update on the sales process is expected this summer, a spokeswoman for Propertize said. She declined to comment on the identity of bidders. Spokesmen for JPMorgan, Lone Star, Goldman Sachs and Cerberus also declined to comment.
Europe’s banks and asset managers have been selling real estate loans as they seek to repair their balance sheets after the financial crisis. Propertize was given as long as a decade to dispose of the assets when it was set up to manage loans advanced by SNS Reaal NV after the bank was nationalized in 2013.
“The investors that buy these loans should be able to make good recoveries and returns,” Federico Montero, head of loan sales at Cushman & Wakefield Inc.’s European corporate finance unit, said in a telephone interview. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy a portfolio of this size in the Netherlands.”
A venture between Lone Star and JPMorgan bought 2.2 billion euros of non-performing and performing loans backed by European assets from Commerzbank AG in July. Lone Star was the second-largest buyer of soured European real estate loans last year, according to broker Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
The Dutch government decided to privatize Propertize and offered shares in the company and sought expressions of interest from buyers last year, according to an official notice. At that stage it held 5.5 billion euros of loans and real estate, the note says.