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Alpha Bank completes the deal with Davidson Kempner for the Galaxy mega project
Alpha Bank, one of Greece’s largest systemic banks has agreed to offload a €10.8 bn book of sour loans to Davidson Kempner.
The deal to securitise Alpha Bank’s NPEs was announced late February and it is Europe’s second biggest such transaction to date. Davidson Kempner will also acquire an 80% stake in Alpha Bank’s loan servicer, Cepal.
The transaction is part of the Hercules Asset Protection Scheme, a government initiative to clean up bank balance sheets and remove up to €30 bn of bad loans.
Greek banks have shed about a third of their non-performing loans since 2015, equal to €35bn, but they still make up about 40 per cent of total lending. The deal will reduce Alpha Bank’s NPL ratio from 29 per cent to 13 per cent.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approval.
Eurobank, another of the 4 Greek systemic banks completed last year the sale of its €7.5 bn Cairo portfolio of bad loans.
Original Source: Tovima.gr
Adaptation/Summary: Kiki Athanasiadis