Spain's NH Hoteles has received a preliminary offer from US private equity firm KKR to buy bonds that can be converted into shares of the debt-laden hotel chain. NH Hoteles, Europe's third largest business hotel operator based on rooms, has long been tipped as a private equity target given its large debt and that of its savings bank shareholders, which together own nearly a third of the firm.
Capital outflows from Spain more than quadrupled in May to €41.3 billion compared with May 2011, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Spanish central bank. In the first five months of 2012, a total of €163 billion left the country, the figures indicate. During the same period a year earlier, Spain recorded a net inflow of €14.6 billion.
Spain's banks had 155.84bn Euros of loans on their books in May that are at risk of not being repaid, the highest since 1994.
A Spanish court opened a fraud case against former executives of lender Bankia on Wednesday amid mounting public anger against the state-rescued bank.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called for a show of force from European authorities as his government sought ways to avoid tapping markets to fund the bailout of the nation’s third-biggest lender.
Ratings agency Moody's has cut the credit ratings of 16 Spanish banks, a further blow to a country that is struggling to deal with the bad debts of its banking sector. It also cut the debt rating on Santander UK, a subsidiary of the Spanish banking giant.
Protests of indignados continue in Madrid and Barcelona in spite of arrests and members of the 15-M movement have promised they will not abandon streets and plazas until after the anniversary of the first protest in Puerta del Sol a year ago on Tuesday.
Spain told its banks on Friday to set aside another 30 billion Euros to cover potential losses on real estate and ordered an independent audit of their debts, an effort to restore confidence in a sector that is at the heart of the country's financial crisis.
Spain took over Bankia, the country's fourth biggest lender, on Wednesday, trying to dispel concerns over the government's ability to clean up the financial sector four years after the banks were hit by a property market crash.
Spanish shares have fallen and the interest rate on the country's benchmark 10-year bond has risen amid fresh worries over the banking sector. The Ibex market fell by 3% and bond yields rose above 6%, a level seen as unsustainable.