Caixa Econômica Federal, the Brazilian state-owned mortgage lender, has reached out to investors to sell off its distressed real estate assets as part of a broader effort to streamline the company's operations and raise cash, Bloomberg News reported, citing new CEO Pedro Guimaraes.

Guimaraes reportedly has held dozens of meetings in the U.S. related to the planned sales, which chiefly consist of defaulted mortgages totaling 8 billion Brazilian reais as of September 2018.

The effort comes as Caixa has laid out plans to pare expenses, sell off noncore assets, and spin off subsidiaries through listings in Brazil and New York. The company has said that it plans to sell all its noncore assets by June, and that it will launch the first of four subsidiary IPOs — that of insurance unit Caixa Seguridade Participações SA — in September. It also plans to use public offerings to sell stakes in its card, asset management and lottery units. Together, the four public offerings could generate 15 billion reais for Caixa.

As of March 19, US$1 was equivalent to 3.77 Brazilian reais.