Aktua Soluciones Financieras ABOVE AVERAGE
Ranking Affirmed As A Residential Special
Servicer In Spain; Outlook Stable
Servicer Analysts:
Cristina Sevilla, Madrid (34) 91-788-7201; [email protected]
Chiara Sardelli, London (44) 20-7176-3878; [email protected]
OVERVIEW
• We have affirmed our overall ABOVE AVERAGE ranking on Aktua Soluciones
Financieras as a special servicer of residential mortgages in Spain.
• The outlook is stable.
• Aktua Soluciones Financieras is an independent servicer managing both
loans and real estate assets on behalf of third-parties. Centerbridge
Partners, an international private equity investor, is its majority
stakeholder.
MADRID (Standard & Poor's) Aug. 7, 2015--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
has affirmed its overall ABOVE AVERAGE ranking on Aktua Soluciones
Financieras, S.L.U. (Aktua) as a special servicer of residential mortgages in
Spain. The outlook is stable.
Aktua was founded in 2008 in Madrid as the servicing branch of Banco Español
de Credito S.A. (Banesto), at the time owned by the Banco Santander group. In
2012, Centerbridge Partners LP acquired Aktua's majority share, while Aktua's
management team and Banco Santander Group hold the remaining shares.
Aktua currently provides end-to-end processes from advisory activity during
the due diligence and underwriting period (including pricing), loan special
servicing (including loss mitigation solutions and primary and back up
servicing), and judicial management through to property asset management
(including commercialization and sales).
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Aktua Soluciones Financieras ABOVE AVERAGE Ranking Affirmed As A Residential Special Servicer In Spain;
Outlook Stable
Our ranking is limited to the company's activity as a special servicer of
residential mortgages in Spain.
Our ranking reflects our assessment of the company's operations based on the
major ranking factors in our criteria (see "Related Criteria").
MAJOR RANKING FACTORS
• Aktua's portfolio under management decreased to €2.8 billion in loans and
€2.4 billion in real estate assets in June 2015 from €10 billion in loans
and €4 billion in real estate assets in 2014. This reflected the exit of
a portfolio of loans granted to developers that Banco Mare Nostrum (BMN)
originated. The company boarded this portfolio in 2014, of which Sociedad
De Gestión De Activos Procedentes De La Reestructuración Bancaria (SAREB)
was the ultimate owner, after it acquired BMN Real Estate's assets
management platform. In early 2015, SAREB assigned the servicing rights
on these assets to a different company. Aktua is confident that it will
obtain new mandates from other financial institutions and outstanding
clients over the next 12 months and expects to achieve new portfolio
growth by the end of 2015. In our opinion, Aktua is well-positioned to
achieve this target, but the Spanish market is more competitive than in
the past. Consequently, we are going to closely monitor the evolution of
Aktua's portfolio over this period.
• Aktua has a stable management team composed of highly experienced
professionals. In line with the fluctuation of the portfolio under
management, the number of staff decreased to 376 people as of June 2015,
from 430 at the end of 2014. We will monitor the servicer's ability to
manage those changes.
• Since our 2014 review, Aktua hired its former external auditor as head of
the risk management and internal audit function. In 2015, the company
successfully finalized a full internal audit cycle reporting no critical
issues. Similarly, it carefully updated its risk map and planned remedy
actions to mitigate risk according to its risk appetite. Aktua also
established an internal controls committee to monitor and coordinate
those functions. Additionally, the company is expecting to appoint a new
compliance head by the end of 2015 as the previous one left. In our
opinion, the company will benefit from those improvements and a longer
track record of its new internal control system.
• The company has a robust IT system which supports the overall business
and it is constantly updated to maintain its continuous effectiveness.
Aktua's IT platform includes integrated systems supporting the full
collection cycle from loan administration and litigation to real estate
property and asset management, sales, and closing. External providers
directly work on Aktua's IT system through limited access, so the
servicer has an extensive ability to produce business intelligence and
clients' reports.
• Aktua developed an exhaustive workflow to support special servicing
operations working on loans and real estate assets. Its business model
generated positive collection results against targets and Aktua
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Aktua Soluciones Financieras ABOVE AVERAGE Ranking Affirmed As A Residential Special Servicer In Spain;
Outlook Stable
constantly reviews its processes to further increase productivity and
efficiency.
OUTLOOK
The outlook is stable. The stable outlook reflects the experience of Aktua's
management team, its successful business model, and its robust IT systems.
MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION
We have affirmed our ABOVE AVERAGE subranking on Aktua for management and
organization as a special servicer of residential mortgages in Spain. The
management and organization is supported by an experienced executive team,
which has developed an exhaustive workflow to successfully support special
servicing operations.
LOAN ADMINISTRATION
We have affirmed our ABOVE AVERAGE subranking on Aktua for loan administration
as a special servicer of residential mortgages in Spain. Aktua provides a
reliable service as a debt collector for residential mortgages and has
achieved positive collections results since the company was established.
FINANCIAL POSITION
We consider Aktua's financial position to be SUFFICIENT based on the past
three years of financial statements and next year's projections.
RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH
Related Criteria
• Revised Criteria For Including RMBS, CMBS, And ABS Servicers On Standard
& Poor's Select Servicer List, April 16, 2009
• Servicer Evaluation Ranking Criteria: U.S., Sept. 21, 2004
Related Research
• ABOVE AVERAGE Ranking Assigned To Aktua Soluciones Financieras As
Residential Special Servicer In Spain; Outlook Stable, July 22, 2014
• Select Servicer List, published monthly
Additional Contact:
Structured Finance Europe; [email protected]
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