Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale said Dec. 5 that it placed credit risks on a €10.1 billion portfolio of some 4,300 loans with institutional investors, thereby reducing its risk-weighted assets by €3.7 billion.
The transaction, dubbed Northvest 2, will increase the northern German landesbank's common equity Tier 1 ratio, which it said should rise to around 12% by year-end 2017.
In the course of the transaction, NORD/LB securitized some €1 billion of shipping loans for the first time. The bank, which aims to cut its total shipping finance holdings to between €12 billion and €14 billion by 2018-end, said this was the biggest securitization of shipping loans in the recent past.
Apart from shipping credits, the portfolio also included loans on renewable energy assets, infrastructure, aircraft and German medium-sized businesses.
NORD/LB placed the first €11.4 billion tranche of the Northvest transaction in March 2014 and followed it up with a further €5.1 billion in September 2015. The current issuance is the second tranche of the Northvest portfolio for 2017, adding to a transaction completed in May.
