Debtwire Restructuring Forum – Italy, July 6 in Milan
“Our vantage point on UTPs is a privileged one, thanks to our partnerships with Intesa and Unicredit through which we are working on most of the Italian restructuring tables.” Fabio Panzeri, Prelios Group General Manager for Servicing & Operations, was speaking at the “Debtwire Restructuring Forum - Italy” in Milan on July 6. “This has enabled us to develop a data-driven approach to UTP analysis and management, which will be a fundamental resource in meeting the next impaired credit challenge, Stage 2,” Panzeri continued. “By using the experience built up in NPL and UTP management and this data-driven approach, we will be able to make our knowhow available to our bank partners almost on an SaaS basis, providing an analysis service, clustering, targeted watch-list interventions, and so support proactive management of the expected Stage 2 wave.”
At the Debtwire Restructuring Forum, Panzeri took part in the “Management of impaired credits and recent developments in the NPL market” panel moderated by Francesco De Gennaro, a partner with DLA Piper, together with Davide Falconi, Head of NPL-Doubtful Debt Loans - Head Special Situations Milan Hub at BNL BNP Paribas, and Andrea Mignanelli, CEO of Cerved Group S.p.A. According to the Prelios General Manager for Servicing & Operations, “The prompt ‘emergence’ of the crisis will be a key factor over the next 12-18 months. On this point, in addition to legislative action, a process of financial education will be fundamental. In this connection, Prelios, in collaboration with FEduF, has developed the Educadebito.com website. This is an IT portal for companies and individuals, which promotes education on loans. We are convinced that an informed borrower, who knows the levers available to move beyond a crisis situation, is vital for successful collaboration and to avoid turning temporary difficulties into irreversible crises.”
Fabio Panzeri also touched on the question of the new asset classes: “We are paying close attention to real estate owned companies, ReoCo, an undersized sector in Italy. Here, the investor approach is still what it was years ago with UTPs, largely focused on single names. But there is a whole granular area of assets being put up for auction, which, even in the current inflationary climate, could be valorized better: so what are needed are investors interested in developing an industrial strategy around this asset class, with the support of servicers with a strong real estate DNA.”
Fabio Panzeri ha inoltre affrontato il tema delle nuove asset class: “Guardiamo con interesse a un settore sottodimensionato in Italia, che è quello delle ReoCo, le real estate owned companies. In questo caso l’approccio dell’investitore è ancora come quello che si vedeva anni fa con gli UTP, concentrato principalmente sui single name. Invece c’è tutta una parte granulare di asset che vanno all’asta e che, anche in un contesto inflazionistico come quello attuale, potrebbero essere meglio valorizzati: servirebbero quindi investitori interessati a costruire una strategia industriale intorno a questa asset class, con il supporto di servicer aventi un forte DNA real estate”.