This is the amount the bank will release at an initial stage, but it may grow with time. For now, the bank is restructuring the team which will incorporate Deva Capital so as to launch it in this market, explained newspaper Expansión last week.
With this bet, Santander will become part of the toxic assets’ buyers, a market which, in Spain, is dominated by Blackstone – with more than 32 billion euro invested in the last 5 years –, followed by Cerberus, with more than 26 billion euro spent and by Lone Star with 15.9 billion euro.
With this new business, Santander will act both as a buyer and as a seller in this market. The Spanish bank was actually the largest seller of toxic assets between 2015 and 2019, according to data from Axis Corporate. During that period alone, Santander added more than 36 billion euro in NPL sales. The second-largest seller was Caixa Bank with around 24 billion euro sold and the third was banco Sabadell with more than 21 billion euro.
