BBVA BBVA Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA

Bankia SA (BKIA.MC) and its parent company Banco Financiero y de Ahorro SA have decided to group together their real-estate assets into a new business unit in an attempt to cut costs and obtain fiscal perks, reports El Pais in its Tuesday Internet edition, without citing any sources.

Last month, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA) also said it would group its EUR30 billion ($40 billion) worth of real-estate assets into a new unit.

BFA and Bankia have become Spain's largest real-estate company in Spain, with more than EUR11 billion in assets. In addition, they have EUR41 billion in outstanding loans to real-estate developers.

Newspaper website: www.elpais.com

-Dow Jones Newswires; enza.tedesco@dowjones.com