Overview:

• HSH Nordbank sold a €1.64 billion loan portfolio in preparation for its privitisation in 2018.
• Australian investor Macquarie bought the largest portion of the debt, €800 million in aviation finance loans.
• Bank of America Merril Lynch acquired €540 million in commercial real loans.
• The remaining €300 million was purchased by various parties which chose to remain anonymous. 
• German Landesbank HSH was bailed out by German federal states Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein in 2009.
• In 2016 the European Commission agreed a state aid deal with the lender's owners on the condition the bank would be sold by February 2018.
• In preparation for the sale, HSH has been selling loans to improve its capital adequacy ratio, including a €5 billion shipping loan portfolio, which was transferred to its two state owners in 2016.
• The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017.

Ben Naylor - Regional Editor