“W are not here to manage the bank. We are here to appoint a board who is worthy of the name, give it external support, make the bank restructuring process as soon as possible, find a partner and exit our investment within 18-24 months”, Qaestio Capital Management sgr‘s ceo Alessandro Penati said last Saturday June 3rd in Trento at the International Festival of the Economy  (see here Il giornale di Vicenza).
Mr. Penati was speaking about the 99.33% stake in Banca Popolare di Vicenza owned by Atlante fund (managed by Qaestio Capital, see here a previous post by BeBeez). Mr. Penati so confirmed rumors about talks going on between Atlante fund and some US private equity firms active in the financial sector such as Warburg Pincus, Atlas, Centerbridge and Baupost. Other firms which are said to be studying the dossier are Oaktree, JC Flowers and Italy’s  Investindustrial.
“A surprise may come before year end” with “a partial cash out thanks to a partner”, Mr. Penati added. Quaestio Capital Management sgr actually does not have a private equity team as its strutured as an open end funds asset manager.
Atlante fund has been subscribed by all major Italian banks and will invest 70% of its committements capital increases of distressed italian banks as a back-stop facility and the remaining 30% in in non-performing loans on the books of the Italian banks subscribing equity tranches of Npls securitizations, spv and funds of Npls and in securities, real estate or other rights (even if they are not collateral for Npls) in deals aimed at recovering Npls value.
