Renta Corporación signs a 500-million-euro syndicated loan

Renta Corporación signs a 500-million-euro syndicated loan

. Santander, Eurohypo, Fortis and BBVA lead the operation

. With the participation of 21 Spanish and foreign organisations, this is the Company’s first structured finance operation.

Following the mandate announced last December, Renta Corporación has signed a syndicated loan deal worth 500 million euros. The operation, expected to last 5 years, is led by Santander, Eurohypo and Fortis as managing and underwriting entities, as well as BBVA, also managing, and a further 17 Spanish and international organisations participating in the banking syndicate. This is Renta Corporación’s first operation in the structured finance market and is especially significant because of the recognition which it accords the company in terms of finance, its business model – unique in the industry – and its well-accredited record of growth and profitability. For this operation the company used the financial and legal consultancy services of Atlas Capital and Uría Menéndez respectively.

The credit facility is implemented in two tranches, the first of which is a 300 million euro revolving loan with a 5-year term, and the second, for 200 million euros.

The finance obtained through this syndicated operation will go towards carrying out Renta Corporación’s investment plan, which is the basis for the strong growth rate foreseen in the Company’s Strategic Plan. Furthermore, it will enable existing debt to be restructured, and will be innovative in the industry as it will applied to high-rotation assets. The operation strengthens the Company’s growth potential and brings additional stability to the business plan.

Access to this structured finance market has been one of Renta Corporación’s goals ever since it became a listed company in April 2006. It allows the Company, with a market capitalisation of over 900 million euros, to move from financing its deals by bilateral, mostly mortgage-based, loans, to a long-term financing model which will bring significant savings in execution costs. In addition, the resultant financing structure has a direct impact on the efficient management of resources and brings flexibility to the company’s financial management.

Renta Corporación’s Chairman, Luis Hernández de Cabanyes, said in a statement that this operation represents a new and significant milestone in the institutional and strategic development of the company, “not only because it gives us access to a financing structure more in accord with the size of the company, but also because it is a further step in the recognition of Renta Corporación by the financial and capital markets. The company is well-known for its highly specific business model, its significant growth record, an exemplary international expansion and a stock exchange listing process which highlighted the strength of its business venture.” Furthermore, access to long-term finance allows Renta Corporación to implement interest-rate risk management policies, which hitherto had been harder to put into practice given the high rotation of financing operations.

By becoming a publicly listed company, Renta Corporación reinforced its financial structure by capturing over 80 million euros of share capital, thereby almost doubling its net worth, which at the end of the third quarter of 2006 stood at 188,1 million euros. This allowed the company to speed up its annual investment rate which stood at over 576 million euros at 30 September 2006, with combined inventories and investment rights exceeding one billion euros for the first time. Figures such as these raise the company’s future profit-generating profile, based on high asset turnover. The company will shortly present the results for the last financial year, for which it had issued a growth forecast of over 38%, exceeding 45 million euros net profit. In the first nine months of FY2006 (Jan-Sept), its net profit reached 30.9 million euros, with revenues of 411.7 million euros.

Renta Corporación

Renta Corporación was founded in 1991 and is dedicated to the purchase, refurbishing and sale of real estate properties. Since 2000 it has been one of the fastest growing companies in the industry and is one of Spain’s leading real estate companies. It operates in Spain, with offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Málaga and Palma de Mallorca, in France with an office in Paris, in the UK with an office in London and, since 2006, in Germany as well.

Renta Corporación has been listed on the stock market (continuous market) since 5 April last year and was the first company to go public in 2006. In stock market terms, it should be noted that the company has been included in the Ibex Small Cap index and the international FTSE EPRA/NAREIT index, considered to be one of the most prestigious benchmarks by specialised institutional investors in the real estate industry.

Barcelona, 15 february 2007

Additional Note: List of participating financial entities