BuildingCenter, the real estate subsidiary of CaixaBank, has recently divided the management of its main assets and real estate services among three companies. Solvia-Intrum will be in charge of the sale and maintenance of properties from CaixaBank’s portfolio, Azzam will manage rentals, and Haya Real Estate will handle the maintenance of properties from Bankia’s portfolio, which was absorbed by CaixaBank in 2021.
Last year, the Catalan company launched a competition to find a servicer (companies that manage real estate assets) to replace Servihabitat, which had been handling this task for the bank for years. „It has been considered appropriate to bid for different tenders to have the best service provider at each stage of the property, sale, rental, or maintenance,“ explained CaixaBank in a statement.
Solvia (owned by Intrum) has been chosen for the sale and maintenance of properties from CaixaBank’s portfolio for the next three years. This period can be extended for an additional eighteen months if BuildingCenter decides to do so.
On the other hand, Azzam has been selected to manage the rental of properties from CaixaBank’s portfolio for the next two years, with the possibility of extending for another year.
Meanwhile, Haya Real Estate has won the tender for the maintenance of properties from Bankia’s portfolio. Currently, Faig is responsible for the commercialization of these assets, a management that will continue. The new contract, exclusively for the maintenance of properties, will last for three years, extendable for an additional eighteen months if agreed upon by BuildingCenter.
„With the selection of Haya Real Estate, continuity is given to BuildingCenter’s operational model by maintaining the award to the same provider for commercial and technical services,“ added the bank in the statement.
Once the acquisition of Haya Real Estate by Solvia takes place (Intrum will acquire Haya Real Estate from Cerberus for 140 million euros), the latter will become the sole servicer of the CaixaBank group for the sale and maintenance of its properties. In turn, Azzam will take over the management of the rental properties previously handled by Haya Real Estate.
Other servicers such as Altamira, Aliseda, or Hipoges also participated in the lucrative BuildingCenter contract tender. Each company could choose to submit their offer for one, two, or all three of these contracts. It is estimated that the total portfolio consists of 30,000 assets valued at around 4 billion euros.
The contracts with Servihabitat and Haya were set to expire in 2023. In mid-2018, CaixaBank sold 80% of its real estate business to Lone Star. The entity then created a joint venture with this fund, Coral Homes, where all the properties were transferred. The bank retained the remaining 20% of the capital. The agreement between the two companies stipulated that Servihabitat, the servicer, would continue to work for CaixaBank for five years, until 2023.
In parallel, the absorption of Bankia by CaixaBank due to their merger in 2021 resulted in the former Bankia Habitat coming under CaixaBank’s control. In 2013, Bankia sold the management and commercialization of its real estate assets to Cerberus for ten years. This agreement also ended in 2023. Shortly after, Bankia Habitat became Haya Real Estate.
For the past few years, Haya Real Estate and Servihabitat coexisted in the sale and management of CaixaBank’s real estate assets. Therefore, the bank had to decide whether to renew its agreement with Cerberus, Lone Star, or seek another solution.
The solution was to launch a competition in 2022 to divide the management of the business into three parts, which has now been resolved in May.