December 13, 2010 5:24 pm
Glenn Maud, the UK property entrepreneur, has taken legal advice after one of the largest property complexes in Europe was marketed for sale earlier this month without the consent of his group.
The private investor owns the €2.3bn (£1.9bn) headquarters of Santander in Madrid with partner Derek Quinlan.
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IN PROPERTY
A marketing document for the property has reached a number of investors in the past two weeks.
However, Mr Maud said the owners of the building had not instructed the sale.
Mr Maud said: “Steps are being taken to source who placed the property for sale in December through a Dutch real estate agency without the approval of the owners.”
The owners have also taken advice separately on whether there is the potential for any attempt to take control of the complex in Madrid through use of the debt that helped the acquisition in 2008.
At the time, the acquisition by Mr Maud and Mr Quinlan of the nine-building complex at Santander City was one of the largest European real estate deals.
Mr Maud said the owners were determined to prevent any attempt to take greater control. The debt potentially has the right of enforcement of the underlying security in case of default – in this case, the equity in the buildings.
He said: “Any attempt to try and take control of the asset through enforcement over the security will result in potentially years of litigation in three countries.”
There is more than £1bn of loans that back the headquarters buildings of Santander, provided by a number of European banks.
Some of the debt that was used to buy the buildings was borrowed from Royal Bank of Scotland.
As part of a stated ambition to divest its portfolio of real estate debt in Spain, the bank is in the process of selling certain mezzanine facilities to a Robert Tchenguiz Abu Dhabi-backed consortium led by the UK property tycoon. RBS and Mr Tchenguiz declined to comment on the sale of the debt.
There is understood to have been no acceleration or formal demand by RBS against the £200m mezzanine facility, which expires in September 2013.
All interest on loans secured by the property has been paid. Mr Maud has also attempted to buy the loans with the backing of a private wealthy investor and a large US hedge fund.
The Santander headquarters comprises nine buildings of more than 3m sq ft let to the bank for 40 years without break and subject to annual CPI uplifts.
The rental income will rise to about €95m next year. The guaranteed income from the rent paid by Santander underpins the value of the real estate, providing an income akin to a corporate bond.
Separately, RBS is in negotiations with investors to sell a €1bn portfolio of Spanish real estate debt.
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