Bank of Cyprus sells 147 mln euro Romanian NPLs portfolio to APS unit

The sale of the residual portfolio of non-performing assets owned by the Cypriot lender in Romania was decided following the bank's decision to terminate operations in Romania, a process that was gradually implemented during the last years, Reff and Asociates, Deloitte Legal and Deloitte Romania said in a press release.

The transaction was signed in May and was finalised on August 24, after receiving the approval of the Romania's anti-trust body.

"This was the latest major transaction as part of our plan to exit foreign markets and continue to focus on serving our home country market," Bank of Cyprus corporate finance solutions manager Ioannis Petrou said.

The Bank of Cyprus agreed to sell Romanian assets to Austria's Strabag SE for 95 million euro in August 2014. The Cypriot lender entered the Romanian market in 2007.

APS Group was established in 2004 and operates mainly in the markets of Central and Southeastern Europe. The group's area of expertise consists of 3 pillars: alternative asset management, real estate investments, and debt recovery. APS Group currently manages 102 non-performing loan portfolios with a total nominal value of over 10.3 billion euro.

The group is present in Romania since 2007, and currently operates with 290 employees. In 2021, APS Romania booked revenues of over 7 million euro.

($=1.0053 euro)