Banco Santander SA has singled out €7.5 billion in bad Banco Popular Español SA real estate assets that it intends to sell off quickly, Cinco Días reported June 12, citing sources.

The paper said the bank had identified €5 billion of bad real estate debt that it could sell on the market in the next few months and was looking at the possibility of transferring a further €1.2 billion to real estate firm Metrovacesa SA, which is 70% owned by Santander and 9% by Popular. The remaining €1.3 billion would be transferred to real estate firms MERLIN Properties and Testa, which is planning to list on the stock exchange in 2018, the report said.