The Spanish bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), has confirmed plans to sell and lease back some of its branches as part of an effort to raise capital.

It said in a statement to the Spanish financial market watchdog CNMV that it is holding negotiations to sell the properties but no final agreement has yet been reached.

Although the lender did not disclose the buyer, market rumours have grown over the past 10 months that the bank is about to reach an agreement with RREEF, Deutsche Bank’s real estate arm, for the acquisition of a network of 1,350 branches.

According to an article in the Spanish newspaper Expansión, BBVA is expected to close the sale of 80% of the network by the end of September. The disposal of the remaining 20% should be completed two-to-three weeks later, and will see the German investor team up with US private equity group Area Property Partners, Expansión said. The two deals are said to involve a total of €1.6bn, resulting in a capital gain for BBVA of €1.2bn.