According to newspaper Público, which reported the news, and which cites "official documents", the Herdade da Ferraria, which covers more than 260 hectares, which "in 2022 was sold for €1.5 million, as rustic and vacant, despite having 'building capacity of 50,441.14 square metres, of which 5,000 were for private housing". According to the report, this information on the buildability of Herdade da Ferraria "was not attached to the sales dossier", when, according to a person with experience in the real estate sector, "it would have, at the very least, increased the price by between 10 and 15 million" euros.

According to Público, in the first phase, the buyer was Alexander Tilmant, partner of Tela Energy, Álvaro Fernandez Alonso, director of Michael Page, and Vasco Pereira Coutinho, and in 2024, a new investor appeared: Ana Flor Argos, married to the president of GNB Real Estate (real estate asset manager of Novo Banco) Volkert Reig Schmidt, who two years earlier had approved the sale to the three initial investors.

In 2022, Alexander Tilmant, Álvaro Fernandez Alonso and Pereira Coutinho purchased the companies that own Herdade da Ferraria from GNB and, the following year, joined forces in the company Quadrante Frenético, taking over Herdade da Ferraria. In 2024, they transferred their shares of Quadrante Frenético to Ana Vargos, who became the sole manager.

The case was the subject of a complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), pointing to "a situation of alleged promiscuity between parties and Volkert Schmidt's actions in a conflict of interests".

When questioned by Público, the market regulatory body did not provide any clarification on the content of the complaint and the possible conflicts of interest and lack of suitability of Volkert Schmidt to hold positions in companies. Also questioned by the newspaper, the Bank of Portugal (BdP) did not provide any clarification.