In the release the financial entity sent to the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) National Securities Market Commission, it recognises that the REIT showed interest in the Madrid Nuevo Norte, also known as "Operación Chamartín", and started preliminary conversations which «have now stopped».
The negotiations which become public included BBVA keeping a minimum share of the resulting company, around 2% compared to the 75% of the DCN it currently owns. Despite the finalisation of so many details concerning the transfer of the property, the bank has assured that its contacts with Merlin Properties were simple «preliminary conversations» within the framework of «several approaches made by interested third parties». Furthermore, the bank remarked that «as the major shareholder of DCN, BBVA’s current priority is to move forward the project’s approval process and to guarantee its success».
Merlin Properties also sent a report to CNMV where it concludes that «these conversations were held without reaching any agreement until the date of this release and there is no certainty that one will be reached in the future».
