REFILE-UPDATE 2-Martinsa Fadesa woes hit Spanish property shares
(Refiles to add complete headline) (Recasts, updates shares, adds bank comments, background)
MADRID, July 15 (Reuters) - Spanish property stocks fell on Tuesday as Martinsa Fadesa's (MFAD.MC) administration filing revived concerns about a sharp downturn in the sector.
Shares in indebted property company Colonial (COL.MC) tumbled 11.6 percent, while other property stocks Renta (REN.MC) and Urbas (UBS.MC) sank by 15.7 and 14.3 percent respectively after Martinsa's filing late on Monday.
Banco Popular (POP.MC), one of Martinsa's Spanish creditors, was also hit to end down 5.6 percent at 6.70 euros, though some dealers said the selling was overdone.
Martinsa said the filing followed its failure last week to raise 150 million euros ($239.3 million) as part of a plan to refinance 4 billion euros out of a debt pile of 5.4 billion.
"The market reaction is one of negative sentiment to the property sector more than the fundamental costs to Popular," said Sergio Gamez, banking analyst at investment bank Merrill Lynch.
"Popular's exposure to Fadesa is estimated at around 400 million euros, which is not especially high if you consider the overall picture."
Popular said it had set aside 100 million euros earlier this year and estimated this was enough to provide for its exposure to Martinsa.
NIL IMPACT
Separately, Spain's second-largest unlisted savings bank, Caja Madrid, said its exposure to Martinsa was 1 billion euros, against which it had provisions of 250 million.
"Caja Madrid will charge this item against provisions and has sufficient funds to cover it. We won't have to make additional provisions, so the impact on our results will be nil," an official told Reuters.
The country's biggest unlisted bank La Caixa said it had provisioned 192 million euros. On Monday, La Caixa said its exposure to Martinsa was about 700 million euros.
Martinsa, which reached a refinancing deal in May with 47 creditors including Morgan Stanley (MS.N), said on Monday it would focus on selling its assets, valued at 10.8 billion euros, to pay creditors.
Analysts meanwhile said Martinsa's failure could spark further failures and add to Spain's economic woes.
"With Fadesa being as large as it is, it's difficult to escape the perception that its fall will create a domino effect through the sector and then through the economy," said Jose Garcia Zarate at the 4Cast consultancy in London.
Stock market regulator CNVM said a suspension in share trading in Martinsa would remain until further notice.
"There is no forecast for lifting suspension. Information will be requested and if it is deemed sufficient, it will be lifted, but there is no telling when," the CNMV spokesman told Reuters.
CNVM suspended the shares after they lost half of their value in two sessions after Martinsa said last Thursday it had failed to obtain funds. (Editing by David Holmes)
