National Bank of Greece (NBG) on Thursday announced an agreement to sell off a portfolio of unsecured NPLs, with a principal value of two billion euros, to CarVal Investors and Intrum AB.
The NPLs are mostly described as retail and ones issued to SMEs in Greece.
The purchase price was put at around 6 percent of the NPLs principal amount, and is expected to boost NBG’s CET1 index by around 18 basis points.
A relevant NBG press release reads:
“The transaction is part of NBG’s NPE management strategy and in accordance with the NPE reduction plan submitted to SSM. The consideration of the transaction, which amounts to c.6% of the total outstanding principal amount, will be capital accretive adding c.18 bps in CET1.
The thrice-recapitalized systemic bank’s acting CEO, Pavlos Mylonas, is also quoted as saying that “NBG is fully committed to the delivery of its NPE reduction targets, with sales being one of the strategic pillars. The consideration is a testament to NBG’s asset quality and a vote of confidence to the recovery and growth potential of the Greek economy.”
According to NBG, the servicing of the portfolio will be undertaken by QQuant Master Servicer, a servicing company which has been licensed and is regulated by the Bank of Greece in accordance with Law 4354/2015. The transaction is expected to be concluded in July 2018, the bank said.
