September 28 (SeeNews) - Norway's B2Holding said on Friday that its Bulgarian unit - Debt Collection Agency (DCA), has signed an agreement with UniCredit Bulbank for the acquisition of a non-performing credit portfolio with a face value of 249 million euro ($289 million).
"This portfolio is the third portfolio acquisition that B2Holding has made from Unicredit Bulbank and is an important milestone in the development of DCA, and confirms B2Holding's interest in acquiring different asset classes in the Bulgarian market. The acquisition is positioning B2Holding for further growth and development in Bulgaria", Olav Dalen Zahl, CEO of B2Holding, said in a statement.
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The newly-acquired portfolio is composed of secured and unsecured non-performing loans (NPLs) granted to private individuals, SMEs, and corporate customers.
In November last year, B2Holding purchased an NPL portfolio from UniCredit Bulbank with a face value of 84 million euro, after acquiring another NPL portfolio from the Sofia-based lender earlier in 2017, with a legal claim value of some 93 million euro.
B2Holding acquired Bulgaria's Debt Collection Agency in 2016.
UniCredit Bulbank, a unit of Italian banking and financial services group UniCredit, was Bulgaria's largest lender in terms of assets at the end of July, according to the latest available central bank data.
($ = 0.8606 euro)
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