RBS puts loan to builder Sacyr up for sale at discount - report
MADRID (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland wants to sell a 100 million euro (£78.4 million) loan it had extended to builder Sacyr as part of a syndicate, as Spanish firm itself races to refinance a large slice of debt, website El Confidencial reported.
Citing market sources, the news site said on Friday that British bank RBS was looking to sell the debt with a 25 percent discount.
Both RBS and Sacyr declined to comment on the matter.
Sacyr is currently renegotiating the terms of 2.2 billion euros of syndicated debt linked to the purchase of a 9 percent stake in oil group Repsol . That debt matures at the end of the year.
Sacyr said in November the talks were at an advanced stage.
Spanish builders are trying to slim down big debt piles built up during the previous decade when Spain was in the grip of a construction and property boom. Peer FCC recently carried out a 1 billion euro rights issue to pay down expensive debt and cut servicing costs.
Meanwhile hedge funds are mopping up deeply discounted company debt from banks during restructurings as foreign lenders seek an exit from risky investments.
Around one third of Sacyr's 6.3 billion euros of net debt is accounted for by the Repsol loan, originally taken out in 2006 to buy the stake in the oil major as a hedge against the exposure to the construction industry.
The loan is guaranteed by the Repsol stake, which has dropped in value due to the rout in oil prices and the expensive purchase of Canada's Talisman last week. Repsol shares have fallen around 16 percent since the beginning of September.
(Reporting By Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques)
