BFF: Sica, the sale of receivables is a small step; assets and coupons lie ahead
We will carry out strategic measures to ensure business continuity
(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - “This is yet another small step in the series of tactical moves to be made. Now the more strategic ones remain”, because the way forward is to “ensure business continuity” and “pay dividends”, backed by capital levels that will have to rise “well above” the regulatory minimums. For Giuseppe Sica, who has been at the helm of BFF for just over half a year, the work has only just begun, as he explains in this interview with Radiocor. The list is long, whilst the board continues to analyse proposals from the various suitors. Rumours suggest names such as Amco and Bper, as well as CF+ and Cerberus – for whom there may be some preference – Sella and perhaps BPM (some of them are only targeting a stake in BFF), whilst among the minority shareholders there are those who have knocked on his door, asking him not to sell the non-performing loans in the portfolio at a discount. Nothing has been decided, Sica points out: “The bank has received several non-binding offers, and the board of directors is continuing to examine them. It is important to emphasise the word ‘non-binding’, because it means they are subject to conditions and analysis, and we are currently assessing those conditions.”
Meanwhile, BFF’s board of directors has just approved the agreement to sell the public sector’s overdue receivables in Italia and Spain to an investment fund. This portfolio alone is valued at around €127 million on the balance sheet: ‘This is a very significant transaction, both because we are selling a very substantial portion of the receivables we hold from insolvent Italian institutions, and because we are selling the default interest we hold in Spain at values slightly higher than those on the balance sheet. And we already have an agreement with the fund, which has committed to purchasing them in the future as well. The reclassification that the Bank of Italia imposed on us in March this year had created a level of past-due receivables in Spain that was 10 times higher than the historical level. With this transaction, we are returning to pre-Bank of Italia levels.”
Enr-
