Banca Ifis rescues Italian casualty of Greensill collapse (updated)
24/05/2021 11:49
(Adds detail)
ROME, May 24 (Reuters) - Italy's Banca Ifis has bought the
healthy assets of Aigis Banca for 1 euro ($1.22) after Aigis was
forced into liquidation by the insolvency of Germany's Greensill
Bank.
German financial services regulator BaFin in March shut down
Greensill Bank AG, which was part of Greensill Capital, the
collapsed London-based supply-chain finance group owned by
Australian financier Lex Greensill.
"The intervention of Banca Ifis will protect the savings of
retail customers, guarantee continuity of finance to businesses
and safeguard jobs," Banca Ifis Chief Executive Frederik
Geertman said in a statement.
Milan-based Aigis was established only last December as a
specialist lender for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
with a staff of 50 and three branches spread among Italy's
financial capital, Rome and the southern town of Bari.
At the behest of Italy's central bank, the Treasury on
Sunday ordered Aigis to be put into liquidation, while
transferring part of its business to Ifis, which also
specialises in SME lending, as well as bad loan management.
Aigis is the first Italian casualty of Greensill's demise,
which also hit clients of Swiss bank Credit Suisse CSGN.S as
well as steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance and around
two dozen German towns.
Among assets being taken on by Venice-based Ifis, which is
owned by Italy's von Fuerstenberg family, are 300 million euros
in loans to SMEs backed by a state guarantee and 440 million
euros in retail customer deposits.
Italy's depositor protection fund FITD is taking part in the
rescue and will provide 49 million euros that Ifis said would
help to ensure there is virtually no impact from the acquisition
on its core capital, earnings and asset quality.
The transaction boosts Ifis' assets by 5%, adding 100
million euros in terms of risk-weighted assets.
Securities related to Greensill Bank AG, tax assets and
subordinate loan issues by Milan-based Aigis are not part of the
acquisition, Ifis said.
($1 = 0.8211 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za and Giulia Segreti. Editing by Jan
Harvey and Mark Potter)
((valentina.za@tr.com; +39 02 6612 9526))