Sales of European bank loan portfolios up 20% year on year
May 20, 2015
2015 has got off to a strong start and the signs are good for another busy year in the transaction market. €20bn of portfolios have already transacted in the year. This is around 20% up on this time last year and, with €39bn of portfolio transactions in progress, the European markets are showing no signs of slowing down.
In March we hosted our annual bank restructuring conference. As evidence of the continued and rising interest in the market, more than 600 market participants took part in a lively debate with the 32 panellists. During the conference we asked delegates for their views on a range of portfolio transaction issues, as well as questions on wider regulatory and economic issues.
Expanding investor horizons
An interesting theme that we have predicted for a while now, and had confirmed to us during the conference, is the expanding horizons of investors. They’re starting to venture into less mature European markets in search of higher rates of return than can be achieved compared to the more competitive markets of the UK, Spain and Ireland.
Italy, CEE and Greece were all discussed in detail as the next potential markets for portfolio transaction growth and, with Italy now topping the NPL league table, it is easy to see why. When asked specifically about real estate over half (55%) of participants believed that CEE would be the next investment hotspot for this asset class.
Bid-ask gap narrowing?
With investors now beginning to focus on these less mature portfolio markets, the banks in these markets will come under increasing pressure to continue with the much needed restructuring and deleveraging particularly once increased competition on portfolio transactions narrows the bid-ask gap which has, so far, been a barrier to sale for a number of institutions.
Download our full report here.
Keep an eye out over the next week or so for our full report, videos and slide deck from our March conference.
