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Some 180K Greek households expected to qualify for primary residence protection; Eurobank deal for NPL portfolio sale

By E. Sakellari
[email protected]
  

Some 180,000 households in Greece burdened with delinquent mortgages are expected to achieve eligibility in primary residence protection scheme, of which some 50,000 are business and professional loans with the property used as collateral.

A relevant electronic platform to field applications for protection by mortgage holders is expected to debut on Monday, and remain open until the end of the year.

Access to the platform – keyd.gov.gr – is gained through individual codes issued by the tax bureau to individual taxpayers,  

In a related development, Eurobank on Thursday announced a deal with Pimco to sell-off another “bad debt” portfolio (Project Pillar), with bundled loans having a face value of two billion euros.

The Athens-based lender, one of four systemic banks in the country, is also reportedly in negotiations for the sale of another such portfolio of NPLs, the “Cairo”.

The moves come on the heels of a merger with real estate subsidiary Grivalia, aimed at improving the thrice bailed-out bank’s balance sheet.

A press release issued by the Greek lender on Thursday noted:

” Eurobank Ergasias S.A. has entered into an agreement with Celidoria, for the sale of 95% of the mezzanine and junior notes of a securitization of a non-performing residential mortgage loan portfolio of gross book value of c. € 2 billion (Project Pillar).

“Eurobank shall retain 100% of the senior notes, as well as 5% of the mezzanine and junior notes. The implied valuation of the portfolio based on the nominal value of the senior notes and the sale price of the mezzanine notes corresponds to c. 58% of the total gross book value of the portfolio. The closing of the transaction is subject to SSM approval and is expected to occur within July 2019.

“Eurobank and BRAVO have further agreed to enter into exclusive negotiations for projects Cairo and Europe. Project Cairo refers to the sale of 20% of the mezzanine and junior notes of a securitization of a mixed assets portfolio with a gross book value of c. € 7.4 billion.

“Project Europe refers to the sale of a majority stake in Financial Planning Services (FPS), a licensed NPL servicer currently 100% owned by Eurobank. The exclusive negotiation period will start immediately and end on 30 September 2019. Within this period the parties intend to conclude the agreements for projects Cairo and Europe.”