Marme Inversiones insolvency

Overview:

• Marme—the purchaser in 2008 of the Banco Santander headquarters for €1.9 billion—has entered liquidation in formal insolvency proceedings alongside its two holding Dutch companies Delma and Ramblas.
• Senior financing is in the region of €1.6 billion, and junior financing is in the region of €300 million with five interest rate swaps.
• The finance providers were English, German, Dutch and Spanish banks, and several hedge funds have bought into the senior debt, and a sovereign fund bought into the junior debt.
• The valuation of the headquarters was set at €2.8 billion by the receiver, although third-party valuations range up to €3.5 billion. Rescue offers have been received to date that are close to €3 billion.
• The Marme case is the leading case for “double downstream COMI consolidation” in Europe. The Spanish court accepted the debtors petition to declare that the COMI of a group with two parent companies was not located in the State of nationality of those companies, but in the State of the COMI of the bottom operating company. This allows the uniform application of a single set of national rules by a single court that is closer to the immediate local interests forming the subject-matter of the restructuring. 

Adam Majeed - Regional editor