Billionaire Ross Looks at Spanish Banks

Billionaire Wilbur Ross is considering adding assets from troubled large Spanish banks to his firm’s other bank holdings, and has said that he is in talks “every week” with bank representatives.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Ross, whose WL Ross & Co. already has holdings in U.S. and European banks, didn’t say specifically which banks interest him, but indicated that he’s devoted a lot of time and attention to the matter. He was quoted saying, “Maybe next year will be the year for Spain. We’ve been doing a lot of work in Spain. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into Spain but haven’t put any money in yet.”

Ross indicated that the time may not be quite right just yet for his firm to acquire some of the country’s bad bank assets. “Spain in many ways is a very, very interesting country,” he said in the report. “But we’re thinking they’re just now beginning to recognize the magnitude of the problems. Until now they’ve been in total denial.”