Intrum Italy, part of the Intrum Group, the European leader in credit services, and Prelios Credit Solutions, a Prelios Group company and leading player in NPE management for more than thirty years, have been named Special Servicers for the securitization of a portfolio of non-performing loans held by Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. and the BPER Banca Group. The portfolio has an overall gross exposure of approximately 3.1 billion euro and consists 55% of mortgage loans.
Intrum Italy and Prelios Credit Solutions will be special servicers on exposures of, respectively, approximately 2 billion euro and approximately 1.1 billion euro.
The securitization vehicle to which the non-performing credits have been transferred, GROGU SPV S.r.l., has issued senior, mezzanine and junior instruments, for the following nominal amounts:
- Senior Class A (ISIN IT0005473852), EUR 460,000,000: rated BBB+SF
- Mezzanine Class B (ISIN IT0005473860), EUR 37,000,000: not rated
- Junior Class J (ISIN IT0005473878), EUR 3,000,000: not rated
The securitization presents a senior tranche with ratings from the Scope Ratings GmbH (BBB+), Moody's (BAA1) and DBRS Morningstar (BBB) credit ratings agencies and is therefore structurally eligible for the approval and subsequent activation of GACS – the Italian State guarantee – on the senior instruments, pursuant to Legislative Decree 18/2016.
“The ‘Grogu’ securitization is the BPER Banca Group’s fifth GACS securitization and its fourth with the assistance of Prelios,” said Luigi Aiello, Prelios Group General Manager for Corporate & Business Development. “Prelios contributed to the finalization of this important operation, which supports the derisking plan of both banks.” The operation announced by Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. and the BPER Banca Group “is the nineteenth involving the Prelios Group since the GACS came into effect in 2016, and further consolidates Prelios’ leadership in public securitizations,” Aiello added. “GACS is the best tool for management of distressed loan portfolios. The stimulus for NPL management provided by State-guaranteed securitization since 2016 has been decisive for the Italian banking system, so much so that other EU countries are examining it with great interest and Greece has already introduced a similar guarantee. So we hope the measure will be renewed and that GACS’ scope of application will be extended to Unlikely to Pay credits.”
“This operation consolidates our position in the management of GACS securitizations and is just the latest in a series on which we have taken a leading role over the last year,” said Intrum Italy Brand & External Communications Director Patrizia Carrarini. “It establishes us as an all-round servicing player in Italy, consistently with our leadership position on the European credit services market. In Italy, in 2021, alone or on a co-investment basis, Intrum has acquired portfolios with an overall GBV of more than 2.3 billion euro and has been awarded servicing mandates for an additional GBV of 3 billion euro,” Carrarini added. “We are confident that in 2022 we shall continue to respond to the challenges of the NPE market, which offers a wealth of opportunities.”