The NPLs advisory market keeps itself along the consolidation route, while investors continue to buy portfolios of Italian problematic credits
Alantra, the Spain’s headquartered network of boutique financial advisory firms, acquired NPLs consultancy activities Portfolio Solutions Group from Kpmg UK (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The merged entity will rebrand as Alantra Corporate Portfolio Advisory, managing directors Joel Grau, Andrew Jenke, Nick Colman will lead the firm together with the managers that work in London, Madrid, Milan, Athens, Dublin, and Lisbon. Kpmg’s NPLs advisory team based in Italy will remain in Kpmg, while a small team of Italian professionals who were based in London will be transferred to Alantra’s offices in Milan.
Bain Capital Credit acquired Project Valery, a portfolio of UTPs worth 450 million of euros from Crédit Agricole Cariparma, Crédit Agricole Friuladria, and Crédit Agricole Carispezia (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Italian servicer Aquileia Capital Services, which belongs to the buyer, structured the transaction. Bain Capital Credit currently manages Italian NPLs and UTPs with a gross value of 2.6 billion.
Cerberus and Banca Ifis tabled a joint bid for acquiring the majority of the Project Puppy or Poppy, a 6 billion of euros worth Italian NPLs portfolio that Investment Banking arm of Crédit Agricole is selling (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Most of these credits are due for unsecured loans that the bank granted to SMEs and retail borrowers. This portfolio attracted interest also of UK’s Arrow Global, Swedish Hoist Finance, US investor D.E. Shaw, and Milan-listed Spaxs. Crédit Agricole is now considering whether to grant the exclusivity to Cerberus and Ifis, which made an offer for around 4.3 billion of the portfolio, and auction again in September the left amount.
