Recycled business

Debt is usually only talked about when it becomes a problem. With the current shopping spree for properties, the topic rarely features on the first pages of the trade press. But we have decided to take a look at it for this very reason. The property acquisitions made by Spanish and Irish investors during the investment boom of 2005–2007 may have now passed into the realm of myth, but the majority of these projects have since been sold to new owners, while many are just burning a hole in creditors’ balances – and more often than not, these creditors tend to be the banks. However, these banks are usually unwilling to exchange such properties for debt. “When it comes to the enforcement of receivables, banks are generally rather passive. They generally try to restructure distressed projects, somehow with the involvement of their client and try to persuade the client to sell the property themselves,” says Mira Kantor-Pikus, the strategic consultancy director at