Novobanco sells luxury resort property in Cape Verde

Novobanco has just put up for sale a set of properties and land that are part of a luxury resort in Cabo Verde, with a value of around €90 million, market sources told ECO. These properties are part of the Vila Verde Resort, on Sal island, and came into the hands of the bank via payment in kind by Tecnicil, the real estate promoter that started developing the project in 2006, and that owed some €92.9 million to BES. This real estate company was dragged down by the financial crises of 2007 and 2011 and, faced with the heavy burden of its debt, it was forced to hand over the properties to the bank.

The portfolio includes a dozen condominiums (with 4/5 storey buildings, swimming pool and pool bar), semi-detached villas and villas with land (many with swimming pools) and also land for construction, including a lot to build a hotel, ECO found. The development is located in the city of Santa Maria.

Novobanco already tried to sell these properties in 2019, has included them in the portfolio of large debtors Nata II, but ended up excluding the real estate portfolio due to the low offer of the buyer for those assets. Nata II was eventually sold to US fund Davidson Kempner, while the bank opted to sell Tecnicil’s assets separately.

Tecnicil even appeared on Novobanco’s list of major debtors in 2016, with a €92 million debt and with the bank recording impairments of 20% of that credit, according to Correio da Manhã.

The Vila Verde resort began to take shape in 2006 and had the “blessing” of the Cape Verdean government, including tax benefits on the purchase of equipment and construction material and furniture for the houses. The project involved several Portuguese companies, such as the NLA studio, Tecproeng, Biodesign and GPA. Financing was provided by BES, through its Cape Verde branch.