The Espírito Santo family, majority owners of the Portuguese bank that bears its name, and which has recently been split in two and partially rescued, is in a difficult financial situation due to the bank’s collapse.
Under these circumstances, the family put the office tower located in the Brickell area, and which serves as headquarters for the bank’s activities in Miami, up for sale months ago. As reported to Funds Society by sources close to the Espírito Santo Group, the sale of the building it owns at 1395 Brickell Avenue is being managed since last May by the Miami based company Exan Capital, as exclusive advisor.
Rio Forte Investments, a company controlled by the Espírito Santo family, in turn controls Estoril Inc, the entity which owns the Espirito Santo Plaza. The Portuguese bank, Espirito Santo, gave Estoril a mortgage on the property, which has already been settled. This building houses the Espirito Santo bank’s Miami headquarters.
At an advanced selling stage
Major private and institutional U.S and foreign investors groups have been invited to the sale process. Apparently the process is in the final stage of negotiations with an investor group for an amount exceeding US$110mn.
The building, built in 2004 with an area of 659,753 square feet, has several components: offices, retail, parking, hotel, and condominiums. The Espirito Santo Group owns offices, retail space, and parking. The Espirito Santo bank’s Miami headquarters is located in this building.
Sale of the Tivoli Hotel chain
The Portuguese group also owns the Tivoli Hotel chain which is also up for sale and in a similar situation. The selling price of the hotel chain is around US$400mn.
The sale of these two assets can inject a large amount of liquidity to the group within a very short period of time. This is necessary considering the group’s financial situation after the collapse of the Portuguese bank.
Por Alicia Miguel
Por Fórmate a Fondo
Por Funds Society, Madrid