Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA is in exclusive talks to sell a portfolio of nonperforming loans with a face value of €240 million to U.S.-based hedge fund York Capital Management Global Advisors LLC, Bloomberg News reported June 7, citing "a person with knowledge of the matter."
York Capital Management has offered more than 40 cents on the euro for the loans, which were made to Italian property developer Impreme SpA, the report said, adding that the loans are backed by assets including residential developments in Rome.
Monte dei Paschi recently entered in exclusive talks with Quaestio Capital Management SGR SpA, which manages Italian bank rescue fund Atlante, regarding the terms and conditions of the securitization of the nonperforming loan portfolio that the lender needs to off-load. The portfolio amounted to roughly €26 billion at the end of 2016.
Monte dei Paschi needs to clean its balance sheet of nonperforming loans before the Italian government can inject capital into the bank.