Upcoming new platforms to manage Italian shipowners' NPL

Pillarstone and Dea Capital, both interested in putting their hands on 7.6 billion dollars non performing loans, are playing the final match

Pillarstone Italy and Dea Capital are running neck to neck to establish an unprecedented financial platform aimed at managing NPL (non performing loans) or UTP (unlikely to pay).

According to Ship2Shore, Kkr's turnaround fund is seemingly winning, being their initiative at a very “advanced stage” so as to be launched “by the end of this year”.

The new platform is intended to become one of the major NPL management company in Europe aiming at “consolidating and re-launching the Italian shipping following an industrial strategy, as already occurred with Premuuda, so as to prevent selling all Italian assets to foreign players”.

The platform's size will be definitely featuring the whole operation's success, major Banks like  IntesaSanpaolo and Unicredit, covering 70% market share, seem to be interested in joining the initiative, while other Banks, like Banco BPM, Banca IFIS and UBI were also invited.

Even Dea Capital, managing, through Dea Capital Alternative Funds, similar Corporate Credit Recovery funds in Italy (respectively launched in June 2016 and January 2018) targets re-launching ailing medium-size Italian groups backed by tough industrial foundations.

The same strategy developed by Pillarstone, focused on the acquisition of particularly suffering non performing loans from lending banks transferring corporate shares to the fund.

Dea capital would debut in the shipping world with a specially designed financial turnaround platform.

Meanwhile WatsonFarley&Williams legal firm thoroughly evaluated the Italian shipowning NPL market showing that 1.6 billion dollars non performing loans and Unlikey-to-pay loans were already transferred banks in the last years, while further 7.6 billion dollars loans are still ailing, but, at least one of them will be seemingly shortly cancelled.

Nicola Capuzzo