Portugal’s BCP bank has completed the sale of the nonperforming loans (NPL) portfolio named “Project Lucia”, made up of bad loans with a nominal value of 60 million and real estate assets worth 50 million euros. According to Jornal Económico, the buyer was LX Partners (in partnership with Cabot).

BCP will continue its efforts to clean up its balance sheet. “We will continue to go to the market and carry out operations”, said Miguel Maya when asked if they were going to sell NPL portfolios once again.

The bank recorded a 543 million euro reduction in Non-Performing Exposure (NPE) by 2021, with a 485 million euro reduction in domestic activity. This reduction in NPE, gives “continuity to the successful strategy of disinvestment in NPE implemented by the Bank in recent years”, says the institution.

The group’s NPE ratio for loans and advances to customers stands at 4.7%. In the results presentation, the bank revealed that by 2021 the NPE ratio as a percentage of the total loan portfolio continued to evolve favourably, having decreased from 5.9% at the end of 2020, to 4.7% at 31 December 2021, highlighting the contribution of domestic credit, whose NPE ratio fell from 6.1% to 4.7% in the same period.  Also with regard to coverage indicators there was a general improvement in the last year (to 68%), highlighting the performance of the activity in Portugal, whose degree of NPE coverage by impairments, increased from 63% at the end of the previous year, to 68.5% at 31 December 2021.

Regarding the net portfolio of properties received through recovery, it decreased 32.8% between December 2020 and December 2021.

The value of the portfolio, calculated by independent valuers, is 32% above its book value, the bank said.

BCP sold 1,677 properties in 2021 (2,414 properties in 2020), with the sale value exceeding the book value by 22 million euros.

The bank posted annual profits of 138.1 million, down 24.6% on the previous year. BCP’s return on equity remained very low and far from the management’s target. In 2021 it did not exceed 2.4%, well below the cost of capital.

Original Story: Jornal Económico| Maria Alves 
Photo: Millennium bcp website
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield

New consumer credit operations increased by 11.5% in 2021 compared to the values recorded in 2020. According to data released the Bank of Portugal (BdP), new credit granted last year reached €6.5 billion, which compares with €5.8 billion financed the previous year. 

Despite the recovery, the amounts are still 13.6% below the operations carried out in 2019, before the pandemic, when the amount reached €7.6 billion, a record breaking year.

As for December’s figures, these reveal a drop of 6.4% compared to the previous month, in which the €600 million threshold had been exceeded for the first time since February 2020. In the last month of the year, 591.3 million euros were granted to consumers. The amount represents an increase of 24% compared to the same month in the previous year. 

Personal credit represents the biggest slice of the cake. 269.6 million euros were lent for this purpose, equivalent to 45.5% of the total.

This portion includes credit for education, health, renewable energy and equipment leasing, which totalled €10.3 million, up 47.1% on December 2020, and down 19.1% compared to November. 

It also includes other personal loans (no specific purpose, home, consolidated and other purposes), which totalled €259.3 million, equivalent to a year-on-year increase of 45% and a monthly drop of 9%.

In total, 38,920 new personal loans were granted, down 13% on November. 

New car loans totalled €226 million, equivalent to 15,001 new operations, up 0.7% on November. 

In turn, credit cards, credit lines, bank current accounts and overdraft facilities reached €95 million of financing. 68,415 new operations were signed, down 14.6% on the previous month.

Original Story: Jornal de Negócios | Ana Sanlez
Photo: Photo by Ricardo Gurgel from FreeImages.com
Translation and Edition: Prime Yield

The stock of housing loans totalled €96.9 billion last December, up 1.99% compared to the same month of 2020 and hitting a new maximum since at least 2016, according to Bank of Portugal data.

According to the central Bank latest data, the total amount borrowed on housing loans (€96.9 billion) in December means 1.99% more compared to December 2020 and 0.37% compared to last November.

This is still the highest `stock’ value of home loans since at least December 2016.

Already the ratio of overdue loans on housing was 0.5% in December (the same as November and down from 0.6% in December 2020).

In consumer loans the amount lent in December was €19.2 billion, up 0.23% compared to December 2020 and 0.17% compared to November.

According to the Bank of Portugal, “the pace of growth in consumer loans continues to lag behind the years prior to the pandemic”.

In loans for other purposes were borrowed 8.9 billion euros in the last month of 2021, up 36% from December 2020 and 0.33% more than in November.

Regarding the non-performing loans (NPL), the NPL ratio for Consumer credit and other purposes was 4.5% in December (down from 6.3% in December 2020 and 4.6% in November).

As for companies, 75.7 billion euros in credit were granted in December, in this case up 2.3% year-on-year but down 0.48% on November. In this case, 2.3% of the total amount of loans was in default (down from 3.3% in December 2020).

“This was the lowest value recorded since 2008, extending the downward trend observed since late 2016,” says the Bank of Portugal, adding that the reduction in the NPL ratio is more significant for companies in the construction and real estate activities sectors (it went from 10.3% and 4.8%, respectively, in December 2020, to 7.5% and 2.4% in December 2021).

As for deposits, last December, individuals had deposited €172.9 billion, up 6.8% compared to December 2020. Household deposits are at their highest since at least December 2016.

The central bank highlights demand deposits, as, “at the end of 2021, they represented 48% of the total deposits of private individuals”.

The amount of corporate deposits in banks in Portugal, meanwhile, grew by 17.0% compared to 2020, to €61.8 billion.

“It is necessary to go back to the end of 2010 to find growth rates similar to those seen in the two years of the pandemic,” says the Bank of Portugal.

Original Story: RTP| LUSA 
Photo: Photo by Svilen Milev in FreeImages
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield

The deal was closed with LX Investment Partners III, BTL Ireland Acquisitions II Designated Activity Company and BTLP Acquisitions.

Montepio bank announced on 31 December the sale of a non-performing loans (NPL) portfolio valued at 253 million euros, including 10,318 on-balance-sheet and off-balance-sheet contracts.

The deal was made “after a competitive sale process”, through the signing of «a public deed of sale of a portfolio of non-performing loans, in the form of direct sale to the entities LX Investments Partners III, BTL Ireland Acquisitions II Designated Activity Company and BTLP Acquisitions I Unipessoal, Lda, companies validly incorporated and governed by Portuguese law and headquartered in Portugal”, can be read in the note sent by the bank to the CMVM.

According to Montepio, “after the total derecognition of the credits, the estimated impact of this sale on Banco Montepio’s results will be immaterial, representing, however, an important reduction in non-productive exposures, contributing to a decrease of 1 percentage point in the NPE ratio”.

For now, the transaction “contributed to an increase of 3 base points in Banco Montepio’s Total Capital ratio, consolidating the strategy launched by the Board of Directors of continuous reduction of non-productive assets and reinforcement of capital ratios”, it can also be read.

Original Story: Iberian Property | Ana Tavares
Photo: Banco Montepio
Edition: Prime Yield

The Deva fund has paid €52.3 million to Novobanco for its Harvey Project, a non-performing loans (NPL) portfolio with a gross value of €164 million.

This was one of the main NPL portfolios still owned by the Portuguese bank by the end of 2021, which had been previously put in the market with an initial gross book value close to €640 million.

However, in the final stretch of the year the Portuguese bank decided to recast the portfolio composition, excluding some of the initial credits. 

The transaction was agreed with the Deva fund for €52.3 million – less than a third of the gross book value of the portfolio, which was €164.4 million.

In the statement sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (CMVM), the financial institution writes that the sale “should have a marginal impact on Novo Banco’s capital position and income statement for 2021”.

Novo Banco assures that the sale contract “represents a reduction of €162.6 million in its stock of NPL.

Negócios understands that with this  operation the bank should reduce its NPL ratio to 5%.

Original Story: Jornal de Negócios | Hugo Neutel
Photo: Novo Banco website
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield

Portugal’s Novobanco completed the sale of the Project Orion, comprising non-performing loans (NPL) and related exposures, to a consortium of funds managed by British company West Invest and Luxembourg-based LX Partners (LXP). 

In a statement sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (CMVM), the financial institution led by António Ramalho said that this portfolio, which in September 2021 had an outstanding balance of €231.3 million, was sold for a total amount of €64.7 million. That is, with a 70% discount in relation to the gross value.

The Portuguese bank stresses that the completion of this transaction “is expected to have a marginal positive impact on Novobanco’s capital position and in 2021 income statement.”

“Together these agreements represent a €168.1 million reduction of non-performing loans (“NPL”) and are an important milestone for Novobanco, allowing the Bank to pursue its strategy of converging towards EU average,” stresses the bank controlled by the American Lone Star, which this Thursday received 112 million from the Resolution Fund.

Original Story: eCO News | Luís Alexandre
Photo: Novo Banco
Edition: Prime Yield

The impact of the withdrawal of advanced measures due to the pandemic is not certain, but it should lead to an increase in non-performing loans. The deterioration will depend on the economic recovery of countries, says DBRS.

Portuguese banks managed to reduce non-performing loans (NPLs) during the pandemic, and this, along with the provisions made, improved the banks’ coverage ratio, according to rating agency DBRS. Still, it is necessary to wait and see the effects of the reversal of the support measures. In addition, DBRS also notes that Portugal still has several moratoria pending and the effect on credit is still uncertain.

According to the data from EBA, the NPLs of Portuguese banks “declined significantly between Q4 2019 and Q2 2021 (-42%), also leading to an improvement in the NPL ratio to 4.2% at the end of Q2 2021 from 6.5% at the end of Q4 2019″, DBRS signals in a commentary where it analysed the situation in Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus.

In addition, Portuguese banks have also increased provisions since the end of Q4 2019, which, together with the reduction in NPL, “resulted in the banks’ coverage ratio improving to 58.4% at the end of the second quarter of 2021 from 50.1% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019”, they add.

The rating agency also notes that while Spain, Ireland, Greece and Cyprus “evenly distributed NPLs between households and non-financial companies”, in the remaining NPLs in Italy and Portugal non-financial companies have more weight. This suggests a pipeline skewed towards small and medium-sized enterprises and corporate loans, rather than individual borrowers, in Italy and Portugal.

Already looking at moratoria granted, EBA-covered banks in Portugal had 73% still outstanding at the end of Q2 2021, followed by EBA banks in Italy (23% of total moratoria granted) and Spain (13% of total moratoria granted) at the end of Q2 2021.

To do this analysis, DBRS also looked at the evolution of key metrics, forecasting that unemployment in Portugal will have a slight drop in 2022. Growth in the Portuguese economy will also be higher next year, unlike the other countries analysed. In terms of property prices, Portugal is well above the other countries, having shown a very sharp upward trend

DBRS thus concludes that the “comprehensive response from European governments and the EC has so far been effective in preventing an increase in NPLs” in these jurisdictions in the short term. Unemployment and residential property “have performed better than expected in these jurisdictions, with Portuguese property price increases outperforming other jurisdictions”, they stress.

The agency also notes that the effects of the reversal of the relief measures have yet to be assessed, with NPLs expected to increase, but “deterioration will depend on several factors, including the country’s full economic recovery.

Original Story: ECO | Mariana Espírito Santo 
Photo: Big Stock Photo
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield

Six of the main banks operating in Portugal had a combined €1.043 billion in profit in the first nine months of this year, contrasting with combined losses of €178 million in the same period of 2020.

Contributing to the turnaround was, above all, Novo Banco which went from losses of €853.1 million in the first nine months of 2020 to a profit of €154.1 million in the same period this year.

This year is the first in which the bank – which created in 2014 to carry on the commercial business of Banco Espírito Santo, which that bank was wound up – has had a positive result.

The highest nine-month profit was that of state-owned Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), which reported €429 million, up 9.4%.

BPI, meanwhile, almost tripled its profit to €242 million.

BCP and Santander, by contrast, saw their profits fall. BCP’s fell 59.3% to €59.5 million and Santander’s 32% to €172.2 million.

Banco Montepio, for its part, narrowed its nine-month loss to €14 million from a €57 million loss a year earlier.

Despite the renewed profits for most banks, executives said that profitability in the sector remains very low in relation to the money invested by shareholders.

At CGD’s results presentation, CEO Paulo Macedo said that in recent years the aggregate profitability of banks has been negative and stressed that shareholders’ money has to be remunerated.

“There are those headlines that banking earns I don’t know how much a day, when Caixa has 9.4 billion euros in capital that it has to remunerate,” he said. “It has to return money to taxpayers.”

Macedo announced that CGD would pay in November an extraordinary dividend of €300 million to its sole shareholder, the Portuguese state, in addition to the €83.6 million already paid out this year.

He added that although the CGD results were very positive, the future business conditions it faces are “very difficult”.

Banking consolidation, a recurring issue in recent years, was one of the themes of the results presentations.

BCP’s CEO, Miguel Maya, said it was not looking to make any acquisitions: “Let that be clear.”

BPI’s CEO, João Pedro Oliveira e Costa, also said that the bank he runs took a similar view: “We are not focused there and it is not just talk, it is not our point.”

Novo Banco’s CEO, António Ramalho, by contrast, said that it may weigh up the purchase of smaller banks in good time.

“We will look at all growth hypotheses, especially in the second tier of banks,” he said, stressing that possible acquisitions can be made from the moment the bank concludes its own restructuring process.

In terms of the moratoria on loans, which ended for most at the end of September, the bank CEOs said they were not too worried about defaults, noting that – despite there being problems – the vast majority of customers were paying their debts regularly. But they also said that the situation would evolve depending on economic developments and employment.

In August, the government approved legislation to force banks to restructure oustanding loans to customers who, after the moratoria, have problems paying their debts. CGD has already restructured loans to 3,000 households (totalling €330 million) and 600 companies (with a total €150 million); other banks have not disclosed these figures.

Original Story: Macau Business |Lusa 
Photo: Photo by Armindo Caetano in FreeImages.com
Edition: Prime Yield

Bank Montepio is analysing the transfer of between 1 and 2 billion euro in toxic assets to a specialised vehicle, aiming to perform a «carve-out» operation. And has already placed a new 300 million euros NPL portfolio on the market.

Named “Project Gerês”, this is a granular NPL portfolio, whose sale process is being managed by KPMG. The 300 million euro concern the gross value of the credits, excluding the impairments registered by the bank for this set of contracts and loans.

The bank has one of Portugal’s highest toxic asset rates, having registered in June an NPE (Non-Performing Exposure) ratio of 9.3%, according to the second quarter’s statements. During the same period, the banking system showed an NPL rate of 4.3%, below the 5% rate required by the European authorities.

Original Story: Iberian Property |Ana Tavares 
Photo: Montepio website
Edition: Prime Yield

Millennium bcp bank has put for sale the Project Lucia, a portfolio consisting of 60 million euros in nonperforming loans (NPL) and further 50 million euros in real estate owned (REO) assets. The sales process is being led by KPMG.This isn’t the only portfolio that the Portuguese bank has currently in the market. In August, bcp had already put Project Green up for sale, a 160 million euros portfolio composed of NPLs and REO from the Castro Marim and Monte Rei luxury resorts, both in Algarve.

However, the Castro Marim resort properties would be excluded from the portfolio, due to the low bid values offered by investors. The assets from Monte Rei remain though, but it isn’t certain that the deal will be concluded due to the value of the offers on the table, according to what several sources knowers of the process told to ECO. Bank of America Merrll Lynch and Bybrook are the bidders.

Original Story: ECO News | News 
Photo: Millennium bcp website
Edition: Prime Yield

The Bank of Portugal (BoP) announced that deposits by companies in resident banks increased 16.3% in August compared to the same month in 2020, reaching a new historic high of 58.8 billion euros.

“Concerning deposits by individuals in resident banks, which in July had reached a record €169.9 billion, grew by 7.1% in August, year-on-year, adding 169.3 billion euros (they had increased by 6.6% in the previous month).”

According to the BoP, “since March 2020, households have increased their deposits with banks”, with this growth “a trend and values close to those of the euro area”.

Regarding the total amount of loans granted to households for housing, it grew by 4% year-on-year to 95.6 billion euros, after increasing by 3.9% in the previous month.

Consumer loans grew by 1.3% year-on-year to 19 billion euros in August 2020 (they had increased by 1.6% in the previous month).

Regarding companies, the total amount of loans granted in August 2021 grew by 5.2% year-on-year to 76.2 billion euros, decelerating slightly from the 5.9% increase in the previous month.

“Contrary to the evolution seen in 2020 and early 2021, largely related to the impact of the lines of support for the economy granted in the context of the pandemic, the pace of growth in loans to companies has once again slowed for the fourth consecutive month,” says the central bank.

“Still – it adds – loans to businesses have been increasing at a faster pace than observed in the euro area.”In August, the reduction in the pace of growth of loans to businesses “was across all size classes”

Original Story: Eco  News |  Lusa
Photo: Bank of Portugal website
Edition: Prime Yield

As the Portuguese banks continue to clean up their balance sheets, this has been reflected in an improvement in the levels of non-performing loans (NPL), despite the impact of the pandemic. The NPL ratio stood at 4.3% at the end of June, down 0.6 percentage points from the end of 2020. Still, NPL stock amounted to €13.5 billion.

After peaking in 2016 (17.9%), the NPL ratio have maintained a downward trajectory in recent years; a trend that the Covid-19 pandemic has not yet halted, although the reduction has been at a less intense pace in recent quarters.

Over the past four and a half years domestic banks have cleared more than €30 billion of non-performing loans from their balance sheets and managed to achieve a ratio below the 5% that is required by national authorities. The NPL ratio is today at its lowest level since 2008, according to official statistics.

If we count impairments, the NPL ratio is even lower: 1.9%, representing about €5.99 billion in toxic loans.

Original Story: Eco | Alberto Teixeira 
Photo: Photo by Armindo Caetano in FreeImages.com
Edition & Translation: Prime Yield

Portugal’s Novo Banco (NB) and Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) have two portfolios of non-performing loans (NPLs) for sale, called Harvey and Mercury, respectively. Tenders for the purchase of the respective portfolios are in the final stages and there are several interested parties in the race, and buyers/winners should be chosen on 15 October, 2021. 

According to the newspaper Jornal Económico, which quotes a market source, there are three candidates in the final stage of the tender to buy the NPL Harvey portfolio and four in the final race for Mercury. 

For each of the operations four interested parties have been chosen to move on to the negotiation phase, but in the case of NB one of the candidates, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will not move forward, the paper said, adding that the three finalists for the Harvey project are the DDM Group, Deva Capital and DK Partners.

At stake are the debts of 20 single names – eight corporate and 12 real estate-related -, with the Project Harvey project encompassing NPL with a gross value of 640 million euros. 

As for the Mercury portfolio, one of the four funds interested in buying is, according to Jornal Económico, the North American Cerberus. This is a granular portfolio and not of large debtors, with CGD’s portfolio being of collateralised (secured) NPL. 

The Mercury portfolio comprises 100 million euros of residential NPL and a small pool of REOs [real estate owned] in the amount of 10 million euros.

Original story: Jornal Económico | Maria Teixeira Alves 
Photo: CGD website
Translation & Edition: Prime Yield

The five main banks based in Portugal recorded, in the first half of the year, an aggregate profit of €708.4 million.

Together, Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), Novo Banco, BCP, BPI and Santander Totta recorded aggregate profits of €708.4 million.

Novo Banco announced profits of €137.7 million in the first six months of the year, an improvement compared to the losses recorded since its foundation, in 2014.

Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) recorded the highest profit among the five largest banks, with €294 million in the first half, after €249 million in the same period last year.

The second largest contribution came from BPI, with €183 million in profit, which compares with the 43 obtained in the first six months of 2020.

In fourth place, after Novo Banco’s profits, which place it in third place in the table of positive net results, was Santander Totta, with a profit of €81.4 million in the first half, compared with €172.9 million in the same period of 2020.

Finally, BCP profited €12.3 million, greatly impacted by losses of €112.7 million in the Polish operation, when it had profited €76 million in the first half of 2020.

Original Story: The Portugal News | TPL/ Lusa 
Photo: CGD website
Edition: Prime Yield

Portuguese bank BCP is looking for new owners for a portfolio made of nonperforming loans (NPL) and real estate (REO) in Algarve with a gross value of 145 million euros, according to digital ECO News. 

Most of the assets are connected to the luxury resorts Castro Marim and Monte Rei, with the portfolio in question to be named “Project Green” after the golf camps included in those touristic complexes. It also includes other real estate assets located in Tavira, São Brás de Alportel and Loulé, notes Eco.

According to the same source, the bank lead by Miguel Maia is already in the market taking conversations with interested potential buyers.

Castro Marim and Monte Rei resorts had initially been included in the “Project Ellis”, which sale to David Kempner was completed by the end of 2020. At the time, they were reportedly taken from that portfolio.

With over 400 hectars of land. Monte Rei is located a few kilometres from Vila Nova de Cacela, and includes villas, houses, flats and plots for construction, besides golf courses designed by the American Jack Nicklaus. The Castro Marim resort also has golf courses, villas and individual plots.

Original Story: Jornal de Negócios | Staff
Photo: MBCP website
Edition & Translation: Prime Yield

Caixa Geral de Depósitos will go ahead with the sale of a nonperforming loan (NPL) portfolio of more than 120 million euros in the second half of the year. 

According to Economico, the Portuguese State owned bank has already launched the sales process of the Mercury Project, a granular portfolio of collateralised NPLs with a total value of 128 milion euros, and which not include NPL from large debtors.

At the same time, the Portuguese diary added, both Novo Banco and Santander Totta are also triggering the sale of their own NPL portfolios. 

Original Story: Jornal Económico |Maria Teixeira 
Photo: CGD Website
Edition & Translation: Prime Yield

The “expectation of continued support for the most affected sectors” by the pandemic together with the end of the moratoria regime leads the Portuguese banks to rule out an increase in credit restrictions. And this time, bad credit won’t be a brake to new financing, concludes the Bank of Portugal (BdP) in one of its latest papers, according to a new from ECO.

“Progress made by the banking system since the last crisis to make it more robust and resilient to shocks will be contributing to a lower impact of NPLs on lending.”, says the BdP.Even with the deadline for the moratoria ending in September, the surveyed banks are calm. According to the Bank of Portugal, the largest national financial institutions “expect the NPL ratio to have practically no impact on lending criteria,” which, according to the survey, have become only slightly more restrictive than before the pandemic.

Original Story: ECO |Paulo Moutinho
Photo: Banco de Portugal website
Edition & Translation: Prime Yield 

Novo Banco has just put an 640 million portfolio of nonperforming loans (NPL) of major debtors up for sale. The institution led by António Ramalho wants to reduce the bad debt ratio from 8% at the end of March to 5% within two years.

With a gross value of 640 million, the Harvey Project is set up of loans in default from the bank’s 20 major debtors, including 8 corporate loans and 12 other loans linked to the real estate sector.

According to the online Eco news this is the new name given from the bank to the credit portfolio that was supposed to be Nata III.

Original Story: Jornal de Negócios | Staff
Photo: Novo Banco website
Edition & Translation: Prime Yield 

The new CEO of Altamira Portugal, Isabel Teixeira, is expecting a significant increase in new nonperforming loans (NPL) coming to the market within the news few months, she said in an interview to Económico.

Isabel Teixeira admits that by the end of the year the amount of NPL coming onto the market will reach the global value of 1 billion euros. “There are portfolios entering the market coming from practically all banks, and whose tenders are expected to take place by the end of the year,” the manager acknowledged.

In the same occasion, Altamira’s responsible in charge of the Portuguese market also spoke of the possibility of the state seeing the guarantees provided in the Covid lines executed and therefore being able to become a seller of NPLs, alongside the banks.

Original Story: Jornal Económico |Maria Teixeira Alves 
Photo: Altamira Linked In
Edition & Translation: Prime Yield

The US-based Lone Star has sold “Project Vilamoura” to a group of investors, including British fund Arrow Capital and businessmen Filipe de Botton and Alexandre Relvas.

The US-based Lone Star has closed the sale of the Vilamoura Project – which includes, literally, a part of Vilamoura – to British Arrow Capital and a number of investors, including Filipe de Botton and Alexandre Relvas, according to ECO. The “package” includes the Vilamoura marina, two companies and 21 plots of land with construction potential. The operation was closed for about 100 million euros, a value well below what was being asked initially, since the project also included Cidade Lacustre (expansion), which ended up being rejected at the end of last year.

It was in 2015, in a “competitive” process, that the owner of Novo Banco bought these assets. Two years later, at the end of 2017, it put them on the market for sale. Among some obstacles, it took another three years to get them sold. The deal was closed last week, according to ECO, and should have been around €100 million, a figure below the €180 million that Lone Star was initially asking for.

On the buyer’s side is the British fund Arrow Capital, which owns the Portuguese companies Whitestar and Norfin, and a number of private investors, including Filipe de Botton and Alexandre Relvas, partners of Logoplaste, and João Brion Sanches, founder of Norfin along with the two previous entrepreneurs. Contacted by ECO, both the Arrow Group and Filipe de Botton declined to comment.

The project comprises 100% of Vilamoura World’s share capital (the company that manages all these assets), 21 plots of land for development, 49% of Inframoura (the municipal company that manages Vilamoura’s public works) and, finally, the marina, which is the most interesting asset. “Opened in 1974, it is the largest in the country with 825 berths,” reads the project teaser to which ECO had access. The marina concession is valid until 2060.

In recent years, several projects have been completed in Vilamoura, resulting in 704 homes in the pre-crisis period (Victoria Boulevard, The Victoria Gardens, 1st phase of L’Orangerie, Villa Rosa Golf, Monte Laguna, The Victoria Residences and Laguna Golf) and 219 in the post-crisis period (Gardens Vilamoura, Laguna Village, 1st phase of Uptown, 2nd phase of L’Orangerie, Villa Nature and the 1st phase of Central).

For the future, among the various projects planned, there will be 3,658 housing units, totalling 566,374 square metres, says the teaser.

Original Story: Eco |Eco News
Photo: Vilamoura World Site
Edition: Prime Yield