The conclusion of the sale of ECS’s funds is at a standstill generated by the disagreement amongst the banks involved concerning the destination of the assets which were left out of the so-called Project Crow.
The deal was made last year with Davidson Kempner Partners. But despite having been signed by the three banks which hold the majority share of the restructuring funds managed by ECS, the process is now at a standstill due to the uncertainty concerning the assets which will be left out of the portfolio, whose price is estimated (NAV) at 200 million euro, according to newspaper Económico.
Caixa Geral de Depósitos and Millennium bcp wanted to create a kind of “mirror fund” for these assets, but Novo Banco defends the distribution of the assets amongst the banks, a solution which could accelerate the sale and avoid management fees, quoted Eco.
It should be recalled that Project Crow is estimated at around 600 million euro, and it includes luxury hotels such as Conrad Algarve, Cascatas Golf Hilton and others from group NAU. The Bain and Cerberus’ consortium was also interested in the purchase, but it lost the race.
The portfolio was initially estimated at around 900 million euro, but 7 assets had to be removed from the set and it thus now includes 23 assets.
Novo Banco, Millennium bcp, and Caixa Geral de Depósitos (the most exposed within this portfolio), Santander and Oitante are the banks involved.
