Pillarstone to create a vehicle for properties from banks

Loan portfolio management firm Pillarstone will be creating a company within the next few months that will gradually concentrate commercial properties worth 1 billion euros in total.

Pillarstone, which has been active in Greece in recent months after receiving a license from the Bank of Greece, will include properties that stem either from nonperforming loans or assets that are hard to auction, as well as from the companies it will or has already got an active holding, such as Famar and Notos Com.

The company’s aim is to manage those properties in a unified fashion, as a single entity, in order to maximize their value and returns, and to stop burdening the banks’ accounts.

Kathimerini understands that Pillarstone officials and Alpha Bank and Eurobank have already held the first round of talks, but the firm is eager to see all banks participate in the project so as to concentrate the necessary property volume.

The company will focus on properties that can generate income, such as offices, stores, warehouses etc, but not houses, as this domain is not in Pillarstone’s scope. The company wants the first batch of properties, worth 500 million euros, to be gathered in this vehicle by the first quarter of 2018. It will then be enriched further with new assets until it reaches or exceeds 1 billion euros. Sources say a second vehicle may also be created with properties that are not top priority.