BARCELONA / MADRIDWhen the music stops, the party is over. And, in economics, if the music and the party stop, the bloody wound of the 2008 crisis reopens. This is the metaphor used by an investor to explain why the wheel of the economy continues to spin – non-stop. same actors and the usual customs despite the successive crises. The last example that nothing has changed was made public in April. The Sareb, better known as the bad bank (the entity that was created to buy all the toxic bricks from the banks during the crisis and sanitize them) decided to award “the management and sale” of much of these assets from the crisis to two large funds well-known investment in the sector: Blackstone and KKR.
Specifically, the real estate managers who depend on these funds will do so: Anticipa and Aliseda – owned by Blackstone – and Hipoges, which depends on KKR. From this summer onwards, they will be in charge of managing and selling on the free market a total of 25.3 billion euros in assets owned by Sareb, including housing (more than 45,600), medium-term developments (more than 21,600 constructions), land (more than 30,000 plots of land) and also unpaid mortgages and loans. And in the meantime, obviously, they will take part of the cake, a commission for the work done.
This is a relevant chapter because it closes in fact the debate that opened in January when Sareb passed into the hands of the Spanish government, which now owns it. At that time, the social sector and the movements for decent housing demanded to seize the opportunity and make all the flats of this entity go to fatten the meager public housing stock in the state. Allocating these two large funds, on the other hand, is the opposite: sell for money.
“It is a scandal and an aberration that these flats end up in the hands of mutual funds”
“It’s a scandal and an aberration that these flats end up in the hands of investment funds,” says Carme Arcarazo, of the Tenants’ Union, which has kept several neighborhood struggles open precisely because of the abusive rent increases that these funds are making. “It is insulting to all the families who were evicted by foreclosures that now the state is giving back the management to the same people as always, and on top of that by putting facilities in it,” he insists.
The operation, however, is logical and “transparent”, according to Sareb herself. The contract with the previous managers (Altamira, Haya Real Estate, Servihabitat and Solvia) ends in the summer and the new competition was won by the one who offered better conditions and more savings in management. “Our mandate is to manage and sell this heritage in an orderly manner over a period of 15 years,” said Sareb spokesmen. “All these assets were bought with private debt but backed by the state and the goal is to recover the money so that it does not end up paying the guarantor, which in the end are all taxpayers,” argue the same sources who admit that encouraged different companies to participate and that the whole process is audited and was done following the principles of transparency, independence and free competition.
Sense alternatives
Real estate sources confirm that the bad bank encouraged some companies (even from the social sector) to enter the competition. “But we have neither the structure nor the capacity to manage all this,” say some small market players. For UPF economics professor Xavier Brun, the question of whether anyone else could have played this role is answered on its own. “When one does not have the capacity to manage, it must be left in the hands of specialist professionals. Just like when you get sick, you decide to have a doctor fix it, ”says Brun, who points out that“ the option chosen by Sareb should not be demonized ”. On the other hand, the pro-housing movements and the social entities consulted agree that a very valuable time has been lost in reversing the situation of access to housing and making a turn in favor of the social park. “What would have happened if political decisions had not been made for a long time to stay with the private sector and create, for example, a large servicer or a public manager? ”Arcarazo asks.
In this same sense, Brun points out that “bringing a new actor into the market is a time-consuming job”, and remarks: “[A Espanya] politicians have a very short-term view and no major strategies or national consensus have been made in this regard. ” There has been no strategy or will, the economist sums up.
There is currently no other player in the real estate market with a financial and commercial structure capable of managing all these flats, lands and unpaid loans.
The truth is that, in any case, there is currently no other player in the real estate market that has the financial muscle and the commercial network necessary to clean up and bring all these flats to market, explains Brun. “We are giving management to those who have the worst reputation, yes, but they are the only ones who can do it,” admits the economist, who recalls that it will also be up to them to invest a lot because these flats have suffered, or are halfway, or abandoned, or have squatters ”. Asked by this newspaper, the investment funds did not want to make any statement. Blackstone’s spokesmen only refer to Sareb’s explanations and point out that their work will be limited to “managing to generate value.” At the same time, Sareb spokespersons are working to highlight the social side of the entity, which has a fleet of up to 15,000 homes for social use. Of these, there are already 3,000 flats leased to local and regional administrations and a thousand more with social rents.
A deliberately discreet process
The change of managers confirmed this April, perhaps it was transparent, but also deliberately discreet. So much so that it went unnoticed by social movements and even the political class. In Madrid, the change in management at Sareb has caused at least some surprise. Immersed in the negotiation of the housing law, there are even parties and members of the lower house who have heard about it when asked about this newspaper. “Of course, they are two vulture funds with these characteristics [els qui gestionin els actius de la Sareb] It’s negative “, assumes the co-spokesperson of Podem, Alejandra Jacinto, who admits that the news” took them by surprise “. The change itself, however, is not “substantial”, says Jacinto, because in the end the ownership remains public. However, from Podem, a minority partner in the Spanish government, also admit that there should be other ways beyond awarding, again, the management of investment funds, for example by doing so from the same administration.
“We weren’t aware of it until we found the chicken in the press.”
The news has not fallen apart between the two main members of the coalition government: Bildu and ERC. “We weren’t aware of it until we found the chicken in the press,” said Republican sources close to negotiating the housing bill. While they also cling to the fact that the competition does not affect the ownership of homes, they acknowledge that the time is “inappropriate.” However, they are skeptical that the competition could be reversed. Bildu also argues that the way out of property management should have been different. “There are public institutions, even in the field of the autonomous communities or town councils, that could have managed it,” Abertzale MP Oskar Matute told ARA. “The priority for entities like Blackstone is the market, not public housing,” he added. Bildu acknowledges that the way the award is known leaves many questions open. “If companies have been contacted before, if other entities have had the opportunity to apply, if the state has made an effort to manage it directly,” asks Matute. GNP did not even want to go into assessing the award.
The debate over the management of these assets, which now ultimately belong to the Spanish government, has so far been silenced by discretion, but movements and social organizations have already put the magnifying glass on them. “If they give money to the largest administrator in Spain, such as Blackstone, then we consider that the state is also responsible for the suffering of families,” said the group #PlanSareb, which includes various social movements, such as the PAH.
UPF economist Xavier Brun adds yet another leg to the debate. “They have chosen to sell to the highest bidder and get money back; OK. But the state can still decide that the money it earns will be used to build social housing, for example. ” It is another possibility to cling to to get, once and for all, a boost in the public park of flats.
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