Banco Santander has sold one of its most anticipated projects to JP Morgan. This is the Zeta project, which consists of loans to large clients in the hotel sector. The US company will pay around 200 million. The operation was carried out at a discount of one third, as the perimeter of the loans was worth 300 million.

According to El Confidencial, the Spanish group is thus removing the loans granted to hotels from its balance sheet. Although they are now up to date with their payments, they have all been in arrears for more than 90 days. In this way, it avoids future provisions on these loans and the need to deal with defaults.

Santander was advised by EY and A&O Shearman, while JP Morgan was advised by Colliers and Linklaters. Other funds such as Apollo, Starwood and Spanish group SVP also showed interest during the process. Santander’s NPL ratio stood at 3% in March 2024, down 19 basis points from a year earlier. The coverage ratio (provisions to NPLs) was 49.8%.

Santander also overtook BNP as the most capitalised bank in the European Union. This milestone came about because BNP Paribas’ share price on Tuesday discounted the dividend it will pay in the near future. When shares are quoted ex-dividend, there is always a downward adjustment in their value.

Original Story: El Confidencial | Author: Óscar Giménez
Edition and translation: Prime Yield