Deadline today for 5.2 billion euro Ariadni NPL project

Today is the deadline for submitting binding offers for the “Ariadni” portfolio. “Ariadni” includes non-performing loans banks that were liquidated in the past 10 years as part of the consolidation of the domestic system, after the bankruptcy of Greece. The NPLs have a gross book value of 5.2 billion euros.

These are exposures that are currently under the management of PQH, appointed by the Bank of Greece.

Starting price

According to information, the minimum price that will be accepted in the binding offers, based on the EY report, amounts to 750 μιλλιον euros. In addition, the tender stipulates that in addition to their loans and pledges, the buyer will have to hire 180 PQH employees.

Market circles say that after the outbreak of the pandemic and the months-long energy crisis, the conditions do not justify a price of this amount.

As they say, it should have been at least 10% lower. “In the current financial environment and especially for such a large portfolio, rising borrowing costs and the general risk aversion trend due to uncertainty make it difficult to sell,” the same sources argue.

However, they estimate that eventually the process of selling the 5.2 billion euro package will go ahead. However, if there are no offers of at least 750 million euros, the tender will be declared barren and it is unknown when it will be scheduled again.

It is noted that the consortium of Bain, Fortress, Davidson Kempner, doValue and Cepal have passed through the phase of binding offers, while Ellington was previously looking for co-investors.

There is a rumor that the latter will ally with Intrum, however sources in the NPL industry note that the management of the latter is not interested in this job.

The profile of loans

The project concerns total receivables with a gross book value of 5.2 billion euros, the majority of which concern loans from the former Agricultural Bank and the Postal Savings Bank.

These are exposures of 53,000 debtors, which come from 13 credit institutions under special liquidation and concern all credit categories, while a large part of them are secured by real estate.

In particular it includes:

• 2.1 billion euros of debts from large companies
• 1.2 billion euros of debts from SMEs
• 1.5 billion euros in mortgage debt
• 400 million euros of debts from consumer loans

The value of collaterals has been calculated at 7.4 billion euros, of which 3.7 billion euros concern 44,000 residences, 2.3 billion euros 9,800 commercial properties and 1.4 billion euros 30,000 plots.