Europe banks sell 80b euros of property loans

London

EUROPEAN banks and asset managers in 2014 sold real estate loans and defaulted properties with a face value of 80.6 billion euros (S$122 billion), a record, as they wound down their soured loan books, Cushman & Wakefield Inc said.

The increase in deals, 26 billion euros more than the previous two years combined, came as US funds including Cerberus and Lone Star Funds sought to acquire more European assets, the New York-based broker said in a report.