Santander sells distressed loan portfolio worth 1.1 billion euros - Expansion

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Santander has agreed to sell a portfolio of distressed loans with a gross value of 1.1 billion euros ($1.21 billion) to U.S. private equity fund Cerberus and real estate loan manager Axactor, Expansion reported on Friday.

The loan portfolio, dubbed 'Spirit project', includes personal loans, some mortgages, and loans to medium and small companies, Expansion said, citing unidentified financial sources.

Expansion did not mention the price or potential discount on the sale of the portfolio, but said the transaction was split into two tranches.

The first loan portfolio, of around 660 million euros, was sold to Gescobro, a Spanish unit of Cerberus, and the second, of around 440 million euros, to Axactor, it said.

Santander declined to comment, while Cerberus and Axactor did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Spanish banks were very active in the past in shedding real estate assets that went bad in the economic slump that followed the bursting of Spain's real estate bubble at the end of 2007.

Lenders are now selectively repackaging loans in an attempt to recover some cash that could turn sour following the economic slowdown and the pandemic.

Non-performing loans at Spanish banks were still hovering at near record lows of 3.55% in February, far below the all-time high of 13.6% in December of 2013.

($1 = 0.9056 euros)

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; Editing by Inti Landauro and Jan Harvey)