Servihabitat, one of the great servicers (or bank asset managers, in the jargon of the sector), seeks to fatten up its land manager called Serviland. This subsidiary, run by Ernesto Tarazona, was created last year by winning the Sareb land mega-portfolio management contest. Now, this company wants to grow with new clients and through corporate purchases.
“We are open to the acquisition of companies,” confirms Tarazona, who is Serviland’s CEO and is Servihabitat’s executive director of real estate development. Given the scarcity of large firms specialized in land management at the national level, the company is looking at rivals that have a relevant position in some territories.
Servihabitat real estate belongs to Coral Homeswhich is 80% owned by Lone Star and 20% of caixabank. The US fund took over this business in 2018, at the same time that it bought the majority percentage of the real estate portfolio linked to the brick of the financial entity valued at 7,000 million euros.
this history servicer of bank assets created the subsidiary Serviland after taking over the management of land from Sareb (Sociedad de Gestión de Activos Procedentes de la Reestructuración Bancaria), when the bad bank restructured the providers that manage both its assets and its land.
Serviland was born with a portfolio under management valued at around 3,700 million. Around 40% of this portfolio corresponds to land belonging to Sareb, its first and main client, but which it has been expanding to others such as the Lone Star fund itself (30% of the land); the subsidiary BuildingCenter of Caixabank (10%) and Kutxabank (20%).
In less than a year, the company has reduced that portfolio by 700 million: around 300 million in sales already concluded and another 400 million ready to be transferred after carrying out management operations to convert that plot into a finalist.
Serviland is one of the few companies specialized in land management in Spain. His job consists of taking charge of all the urban planning and administrative procedures to convert the land into different phases (for example, not developable) until it has finalist status (with all the permits), when it is easier to sell to developers interested in raise promotions.
Santander also created another management company specializing in this type of activity, which it named LandCo and which transferred 13,000 assets valued at 4,500 million.
The company has advanced in 500 urban milestones in 2022, as detailed by Tarazona. Currently, the company has more than 200 open urban planning files, is present in 1,800 municipalities and participates in more than 600 compensation boards (a group of property owners in charge of managing a new neighborhood).
Presence in all communities
The birth of Serviland is marked by two fundamental reasons: the need for specialization within the sector known as servicers and, on the other hand, the tsunami that Sareb caused with the movement of its servicers. Servihabitat ceased to be one of the traditional administrators of the bad bank’s portfolio, like Solvia, Haya and Altamira. In this movement, the Lone Star and Caixabank company obtained the new land management contract.
Serviland has offices in all the autonomous communities and a team of a hundred people. Tarazona’s goal is for “anyone who wants to operate in the land market” to talk to this company.