Italys BPER kicks off process to sell bad loan management business -sources

MILAN Reuters – BPER Banca has kicked off a process to potentially sell its debt collection business as its new Chief Executive Piero Montani works on a new business plan for the Italian bank, four sources close to the matter said.

BPER is the last of Italys large banks to have maintained full ownership of its debt servicing operations, and the disposal would bring onto the market a coveted asset.

Two of the sources said the process had drawn strong interest and a large number of players planned to access the data room to study the businesss financial figures.

Leading Italian banks including UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and Banco BPM have all offloaded their debt recovery businesses in recent years, in lucrative deals that have helped them offset the cost of shedding large portfolios of bad debts.

Debt collection businesses are normally sold with contracts to manage flows of new loans turning sour. These contracts ensure steady streams of fees for buyers in following years.