Sept 4, 2008
By: Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Inmobiliaria Colonial SA of Barcelona is reportedly close to finalizing a $12.9 million deal with its various creditors that could include the sale of some assets and a future infusion of cash from shareholders.

In late March and again in late June, CPN reported on Colonial’s efforts to sell its 15 percent stake in Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA, Spain’s third-largest construction company.

The most recent development would have to involve both primary Colonial shareholders Banco Popular and La Caixa and major creditors Goldman Sachs, Eurohypo, Calyon and Royal Bank of Scotland. A deal is expected within the next few weeks, according to a Reuters report, and will probably also include the sale of assets beyond FCC.

Dan Fasulo of Real Capital Analytics told CPN, “We’ve seen this scenario around the world,” as companies need to refinance short-term debt and as highly leveraged deals in particular run into problems. “This is the time when some of the weaker players get weeded out,” Fasulo said. “Spain has been one of the hardest-hit markets” in Europe, he added, with a housing crash and rising unemployment.

That said, Fasulo noted, earlier this year Spain was home to Europe’s largest office deal ever, when Banco Santander completed a $2.8 billion sale-leaseback of its mixed-use headquarters office complex at Boadilla del Monte on the outskirts of Madrid.

The July/August issue of Real Capital Analytics’ Global Capital Trends newsletter noted that in the first half of this year, both the total number of deals and the total dollar value were up over the same period last year in Madrid, although both metrics were down for the rest of Spain.