Report: HSH Nordbank Sells USD 1.75 Bn of Loans

HSH Nordbank German HSH Nordbank has reached an agreement to sell a part of its loan portfolio in the amount of EUR 1.64 billion (USD 1.75 billion), according to Reuters. As part of its privatization process, the bank, one of the biggest providers of shipping finance, is looking to offload a total of EUR 3.2 billion worth of loans. Although the buyer of the loans was not unveiled, Reuters earlier cited sources familiar with the matter as saying that Australias financial service group Macquarie Group was one of the parties interested in the acquisition. HSH Nordbank, which will pursue the sale of further loans from its portfolio, is scheduled to be privatized under European state-aid rules by the end of February 2018. Earlier this week, HSH Beteiligungs Management informed that it launched a bidding process to sell up to 94.9% of the shares in the bank as part of its privatization efforts. In June 2016, HSH Nordbank transferred a portfolio of non-performing loans from ship financing with a volume of EUR 5 billion to hsh portfolio-management AöR of majority owners Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. World Maritime News Staff