Spanish banking group BBVA has confirmed plans to transfer some EUR 30 bn of property assets to a new property division.

BBVA Real Estate will be led by Antonio Béjar and will take control of the group's repossessed properties and distressed loans, as well as the bank's interests in a number of local developers.

The move is aimed at extracting value from BBVA's property portfolio by repositioning the assets for a sale once market conditions improve. According to the Spanish press, the bank does not rule out an IPO of the unit in the long term.