MADRID-The gloominess in Spanish commercial real estate investment looks likely to pass in the next few months since foreign opportunistic funds have entered the market offering cash-strapped private and savings banks much-needed liquidity in exchange for non-performing property loans.

The Expansion newspaper reported that funds active in recent months include Fortress, which recently bought a large portfolio of credit card and mortgage loans from GMAC in Europe, the Texas-based Lone Star Funds, Varde Partners and the UK-based Carval, together with platforms such as TDX or Lindorff. These managers, also known as vulture funds, are characterised by their discretion, and their message is clear, the newspaper said: The transfer of failed portfolios has many more advantages than disadvantages for the banks at a time when the ongoing Spanish economic crisis and new regulatory requirements makes it advantageous to transfer failed or doubtful assets off of balance sheets.

“Savings banks have grave financing problems which they will be unable to resolve without private capital,” says Douglas Thomas, MD of Fortress UK. “Everything points to them having to sell their debt portfolios.”