AnaCap Financial Partners has bought a portfolio of Italian real estate-backed loans from Barclays.

The private equity firm said the €177m portfolio is made up loans – some non-performing – to small and mid-sized companies secured against real estate.

Most of the portfolio is in northern Italy.

The deal follows the acquisition last year of two Italian portfolios of non-performing loans worth more than €2bn from special purpose vehicles backed by GE Capital Real Estate and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

AnaCap also last year invested with Arrow Global in a €127m portfolio of Dutch residential and commercial real estate mortgages.

The private equity firm’s Credit Opportunities III fund joined UK-based Arrow Global, a manager of debt portfolios, in the deal – its first in the Netherlands.