Bank of Cyprus Holdings PLC completed the sale of a portfolio of loans with a gross book value of €2.8 billion, of which €2.7 billion are nonperforming loans, to certain funds affiliated with U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC.
The Cypriot lender said it received a cash consideration of about €1.2 billion upon completion of the deal, which was first disclosed in August 2018, reflecting adjustments resulting from loan repayments received on the portfolio since March 31, 2018.
The sale of the portfolio, named Project Helix, is capital accretive and has a net positive impact of approximately 70 basis points on the bank's group capital ratios. As of March 31, Bank of Cyprus' group common equity Tier 1 ratio and total capital ratio stood at 14.9% and 17.9%, respectively, both pro forma for Helix.
Additionally, the lender noted that the participation of unit Bank of Cyprus PCL in the senior debt related to financing the deal was syndicated down to about €45 million from the initial level of €450 million, representing roughly 4% of the total acquisition funding.
