Banco BPM Sells Troubled Loans, Iliad Acquires Stake in Ireland Based Telco

Sarla Buch
20 Dec, 2017
New York City

Banco BPM sell non-performing unsecured credit portfolios for

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Banco BPM sell non-performing unsecured credit portfolios for €1.8 billion. UK regulator demanded minimum high speed Internet connection of 10 MB speed for rural areas from BT. Iliad and its founder agreed to buy 64.5% stake in Eir Group for €3.5 billion. Qatargas signed LNG agreement with OMV.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index edged up 1.38 to 7,545.47 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slipped 45.65 or 0.4% to 13,169.74.

In Paris, CAC 40 index fell 12.63 or 0.2% to 5,370.27.

Banco BPM SpA dropped 1.1% to €2.54 after Italy-based financial services provider sold non-performing unsecured credit portfolios for about €1.8 billion and the sales will be completed by the end of December 31.

The portfolios consist of 370 debtors in bankruptcy proceedings exceeding each with €1 million and 16,400 debtors of less than €1 million.

BT Group Plc slumped 1.7% to 268.96 pence after the U.K.-based telecom services provider made a voluntary offer of high-speed broadband to more than 1.1 million remote homes with an invest of up to £600 million or $803.4 million.

The government rejected the voluntary offer of BT and said that broadband speed of at least 10 megabytes per second will be mandatory in the country by 2020 under Universal Service Obligation.

Iliad SA rose 0.3% to €200.10 after France-based telecommunications services provider and its founder Xavier Niel agreed to acquire 64.5%, a majority stake in Ireland-based rival Eir Group Plc for about €3.5 billion or $4.14 billion.

Under the terms, Niel will acquire the stake of 32.9% through NJJ investment and Iliad will own 31.6% and current Eir stake shareholders Anchorage Capital Group and Davidson Kepner will retain combined 35.5%.

OMV AG jumped 3.9% to €54.27 after Austria-based oil and gas producer signed a sale and purchase agreement with the state-owned Qatargas to deliver 1.1 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas per year from January 2019 and deliver to the Netherlands.