ROME: Fortress Investment Group announced the signing of an agreement with the Italian bank UniCredit SpA. As per the deal, the company would take over UniCredit’s bad loan unit.
According to a Bloomberg article, Fortress is likely to shell out $601 million for purchasing UniCredit Credit Management Bank SpA (“UCCMB”) − the bad loan management unit of UniCredit – along with a pool of other non-performing loans. Further, the company would partner with Italian asset manager Prelios SpA, to carry out the servicing of some non-performing loans.
As disclosed earlier, UCCMB would not require the removal of any of its existing 700 employees and will continue to operate in Verona, Italy, and Charles Spetka. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015. Other financial details were, however, not divulged.
European Central Bank’s recently announced quantitative easing program is expected to boost the Euro-zone economy, and positively impact Italian markets in 2015 and 2016. Further, Bank of Italy raised its growth forecast for Italy to 0.5% for 2015 and 1.5% for 2016. These reflect an upcoming recovery in the Euro-zone.
