Auxadi has participated in “NPL Europe 2019” on March 7th and 8th. The event held in London brought together the most important players in the Real Estate sector, including investors, servicers, banks, advisors and technology services. Participants discuss and share insights on Europe´s Non-Performing Loan (NPL) market, worth over €688 billion. We had the privilege to be one of the core sponsors of this year´s event.
The two-day conference format began on Thursday, March 7th with a presentation by Mikael Ericsson, CEO & President of Intrum, addressing market forecasts for 2019. According to the company’s data, this year NPL offerings will remain strong, and they are expecting geographical diversification to be one of the key points for investors.
The conference agenda was comprised of presentations, networking sessions, and round tables covering the NPL market in different countries. Following sessions on Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy, Joao Belchior, our Country Manager in Portugal, presented his perspective on the NPL market in Portugal, focusing on the contribution of servicers to NPL portfolios.
He explained that the experience of these servicers in the Portuguese market has improved considerably in the last three years, thanks to the creation of multidisciplinary internal teams to support investors in the different phases of the investment. These phases include the due diligence process for the acquisition of the portfolios, the management and administration of the same, and support in the conversion of the NPL into REO.
At the same time, Belchior delved into the technological platform we use at Auxadi to make life easier for our clients and how, in fact, they trust us as integral support in the administrative and financial services of their portfolios. This relationship of trust allows our teams to integrate into their organizational structure while each client focuses on their core business and increases the profitability of their investments.
On Friday the presentations and panel discussions focused on Germany, the Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and the specifics of the NPL market in the different regions. Among other aspects, it was highlighted how in Germany, in recent months, banks such as HSH, Deutsche Bank and Nord/LB have cleaned up their balance sheets with the sale of different NPL portfolios. In the Netherlands, the focus was on how bad debt is mainly concentrated in the commercial sector, while portfolio operations are mainly focused on the residential sector.
Following networking sessions with participants, Rima Yousfan, our Head of Real Estate & International Corporate BPO, outlined the structuring of NPL acquisitions in Spain through Luxembourg. She reviewed our company’s extensive experience in the NPL sector, and announced the imminent opening of a new office in Luxembourg where our team of experts will be responsible for our clients’ accounting, corporate administration, tax compliance and fiduciary services. Included in her presentation were details on the structures set up from Luxembourg and the purchase of NPL, explaining how ReoCo is financed to pay the Luxembourg company for the acquisition of the rights, as well as the different taxes involved in all phases of the structure.
The discussion on the situation of the Real Estate market in Greece and Italy closed the 9th edition of this event, which in November will arrive in Madrid to focus on the Spanish market.
