Shareholder reshuffle at Italy's doValue cuts SoftBank stake, hands 9% to EJF

Eurocastle Investment

08/01/2020 17:51

MILAN, Jan 8 (Reuters) - A shareholder reshuffle has cut
SoftBank Group's  9984.T  stake in doValue  DOVA.MI , boosting
the free float of Italy's biggest bad loan specialist and
handing a 9.4% holding to hedge fund EJF Investments, a
regulatory filing showed.
     The changes stem from a decision by Eurocastle Investments
 ECT.AS  to distribute the doValue shares in its fund directly
to its shareholders following a campaign by EJF, which had asked
Eurocastle to cash in on its investment in doValue.
    A filing by Italian market regulator Consob late on Tuesday
showed that top investor SoftBank Group, which held part of its
stake in doValue through Eurocastle, now holds 26.9% of the
company, down from 43.9% previously.
    In a letter to the Eurocastle board in 2018, EJF had
complained that the fund traded at a discount to its net asset
value, half of which was represented by doValue, prompting
Eurocastle to initially sell a 6% stake in doValue last August.
    At the end of September, doValue managed 140 billion euros
in impaired loans after growing rapidly in recent years as
Italian banks offloaded 180 billion euros of debts that turned
sour during a deep recession.
    Forced by regulators to clean up their balance sheets,
lenders have been selling problem loans to funds such as
Fortress, which then hand management of such assets to firms
like doValue.
    DoValue has been ramping up its international presence
through acquisitions, most recently securing a majority stake in
the loan recovery unit of Greece's Eurobank  EURBr.AT  in
December.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N28T2EO
    Broker Berenberg on Tuesday said doValue was one of its four
top picks among European mid-caps.  
    doValue shares fell 1.5% on Wednesday as Italy's all-share
index  .FTITLMS  gained 0.4%.  

 (Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
 ((valentina.za@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 6612 9526;))