Cerberus leads buyers of distressed property debt in Europe

Madrid

CERBERUS Capital Management LP was the biggest buyer of distressed real estate debt in Europe through the first nine months of the year, closing eight deals with an original face value of 7.69 billion euros (S$12.3 billion), according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc.

Sales of soured real estate debt and foreclosed assets totalled 44.6 billion euros in the period, a 23 per cent drop from a year earlier, the New York-based broker said in a report published on Tuesday. Lenders and funds had 531 billion euros of real estate exposure before impairments as at the third quarter, a drop of about 10 per cent from July last year, it estimated.