Global credit specialist Bain Capital Credit and investment management firm Fortress have acquired a non-performing loan (NPL) portfolio dubbed Project Frontier.
Project Frontier involves the sale of 95% of the mezzanine and junior notes from a securitization backed by a €6 bn gross book value portfolio of non-performing exposures from the National Bank of Greece.
Bain Capital Credit, Fortress and doValue have formed a consortium whereby funds and accounts managed by Bain Capital Credit and Fortress respectively acquired the notes, while doValue was appointed as the servicer of the securitization.
According to Bain Capital Credit, Project Frontier is a landmark transaction, being the first large scale securitization on a servicer-release basis, utilising the Hellenic Asset Protection Scheme in Greece.
This is Bain Capital Credit’s fourth large-scale acquisition of non-performing exposure portfolios in Greece, following projects EGEE, Amoeba and Icon.
'We are excited about closing this milestone transaction,' said Fabio Longo, managing director, Bain Capital Credit. 'Greece is one of our key markets and we remain committed to further investment.'
'We continue to believe Greece is one of the most attractive NPL and real estate markets in Europe,' said Nikolay Golubev, director, Bain Capital Credit. 'This acquisition is a great opportunity to continue expanding our footprint and benefit from Greece’s macro recovery.'
The consortium was advised by doValue Greece in the underwriting of the portfolio; Hellenic Finance provided support in executing the deal; while Alantra CPAI acted as financial advisor.
Allen & Overy and Zepos & Yannopoulos acted as international and local legal counsels respectively, with PWC UK as tax advisor.
