Spain's Colonial posts 2.38 billion euro loss

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2008

MADRID (AFP) — Spanish property group Colonial, struggling under huge debts, announced losses of 2.38 billion euros for the first half of 2008 which it blamed on asset depreciation.

Colonial said in an announcement late Sunday that it had reached an agreement in principle to reschedule its debt of nearly nine billion euros this month.

The firm did not say whether the agreement includes the planned sale of its shares in France's Societe Fonciere Lyonnaise (SFL), estimated to be worth more than four billion euros (5.8 billion dollars), or Spanish construction group FCC.

Like other Spanish property firms, Colonial has been hurt by rising interest rates and the global credit crunch. The Spanish market has been one of the worst hit in Europe.

Colonial...