A Group of Investors Led by Värde Partners and Guber Banca Acquired a Non-Performing Loan Portfolio Originated by 22 Italian Mutual, Rural, and Cooperative Banks (GBV €734 Million)

Guber Banca to Act as Servicer of the Portfolio

A group of investors led by Värde Partners and Guber Banca, working with Barclays as their financial institution partner, announced today the joint acquisition of a non-performing loan portfolio originated by 22 mutual, rural, and cooperative banks spread throughout Italy. The gross book value (GBV) of the portfolio is approximately €734 million.

The portfolio comprises more than 1,300 positions, most of which are secured. The loans were originated mainly in the Northeast and in the Northwest of Italy.

The portfolio was purchased by a securitization vehicle issuing multi-tranche notes. The senior notes (70%) will be underwritten by the seller banks and the junior notes will be majority financed by Värde Partners.

Guber Banca will hold a minority share of the notes and will also act as servicer of the portfolio.

This transaction follows the previously announced acquisition of a €1.397 billion GBV NPL portfolio in July 2018.

Francesco Guarneri, CEO of Guber Banca, commented: “We are very pleased to have successfully completed the second tranche of the deal with CCB (Cassa Centrale Banca) which has reached a total of €2.1 billion (adding the first tranche with the second one), a market deal without any Government guarantee”.

Francisco Milone, Partner and Head of European Real Estate at Värde Partners added: “Italy is an incredibly important market for our firm. Värde’s deep expertise investing in NPLs across the globe combined with our local team in Italy and relationship with Guber support our activity in the Italian NPL market”.

Centrale Credit & Real Estate Solutions (CCRES) – part of Gruppo Cassa Centrale Banca Credito Cooperativo Italiano – and Banca IMI (Intesa Sanpaolo Group) acted as advisors of the sellers, coordinating both the origination and sale processes. CCRES and Banca IMI acted also as arrangers in projecting a new securitization to be managed through a multi-originator platform for the securitization of NPLs originated by cooperative banks. Such platform confirms to be a valid instrument to support cooperative banks struggling to sell their NPLs.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP acted as legal advisor for the buyers.

About Guber Banca
Guber, founded in 1991 by Francesco Guarneri and Gianluigi Bertini, is one of the leading players in the credit Management industry in Italy with approximately €9 billion euro of credits under management. In April 2018, the global alternative investment firm Värde Partners joined Guber’s founding partners through the acquisition of 33.3% stake of the company. Guber operates throughout Italy with more than 180 employees and associates, overseeing the national territory thanks to a network of more than 280 corresponding lawyers. Guber, specialized in the management and recovery of non-performing loan portfolios, both unsecured and mortgage loans, is also active in the macro areas dedicated to the direct purchase of loans, due diligence & advisory services, also in the real estate sector. After obtaining a banking license from the ECB in March 2018, Guber started operating as a bank with the launch of a new escrow account, Deposito102. (www.deposito102).

About Värde Partners
Värde Partners is a $14 billion global alternative investment firm that employs a value-based approach to investing across a broad array of geographies, segments and asset types, including corporate and traded credit, real estate, mortgages, financial services, real assets and infrastructure. The firm sponsors and manages a family of private investment funds with a global investor base that includes foundations and endowments, pension plans, insurance companies, other institutional investors and private clients. Now in its third decade, Värde employs more than 300 people globally with regional headquarters in Minneapolis, London and Singapore. Värde has invested approximately $2 billion in Italy in over ten years and opened an office in Milan in 2014.