LRW srl signed an agreement yesterday to buy 100% of the cpaital of Nem sgr, a private equity funds asset manager owned by Banca Popolare di Vicenza, one of the two banks based in the Veneto Region (the other being Veneto Banca) that almost defaulted in 2016 and were saved by Intesa Sanpaolo last June. Some assets however were not bought by Intesa Sanpaolo and are were put on sale by liquidators commissioners Giustino Di Cecco, Claudio Ferrario and Fabrizio Viola (see here a previous post by BeBeez). As for this deal Popolare di Vicenza bank was advised by ELM Capital Associates and by Clifford Chance law firm.
Nem sgr has today 276 million euros of assets under management splitted in three private equity funds: Nem Imprese II, 115 million euros, still in its investment period; Industrial Opportunity Fund, born from the merger of two mezzanine funds (Nem Mezzanine and Nem Mezzanine II), 131 million euros and in its investment period too; and Nem Imprese, 30 million euros, completely invested and managing its portfolio. The three funds today own a total of 15 stakes in Italian SMEs.
One of the commissioners, Mr. Viola, former Montepaschi’s ceo, resigned yesterday, leaving the task to sell the remaining assets owned by the two Veneto banks to its colleagues.
Till now the commissioners have sold Popolare Vicenza’s stake in Cattolica insurance company to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and the stake in Farbanca ato China CEFC Energy Company, while a competitive auction for Multicredito and Prestinuova is open. As for Veneto Banca’s assets, control in Banca Intermobiliare was sold to Attestor Capital.
Arca sgr, Apulia Prontoprestito, Claris Leasing, Claris Factor and Apulia previdenza are instead still on sale (see here a previous post by BeBeez). A deadline has been fixed by the end of June. However a special decree from the Italian Government is still to be issued in order to allow Sga to acquire the two banks’ non-performing exposures and then sell or manage them (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
