Italian financial services giant UniCredit is planning to offload its private equity investments managed by German unit HypoVereinsbank (HVB), in a bid to strengthen its balance sheet.
The value of the divestment is expected to be around 1 billion ($1.37 billion).
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The bank has reported loss of 14 billion for 2013 following huge writedowns on bad loans and the value of past acquisitions, reported Reuters.
UniCredit’s chief executive Federico Ghizzoni said that the sale is well in progress, however, the company is under no pressure to sell by a specific date.
"The sale is part of a process that has been half completed," Ghizzoni added.
Earlier in 2013, HVB offloaded a part of its private equity portfolio to SwanCap Investment Management-managed private equity fund SwanCap Opportunities Fund.
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By GlobalDataUniCredit is keen to strengthen its balance sheet in line with investigation of financial stability conducted on nearly 130 lenders by the European Central Bank before it takes over as the euro zone’s primary banking watchdog.
Besides, plans to list up to 35% of its online banking unit Fineco, UniCredit is also seeking potential binding offers for its debt collection unit UCCMB. The bank is keen to close the sale by the end of 2014.
"We’re in line with our internal timetable for the sale of the asset. We’re at a point where we should get in a few weeks the first binding offers," revealed Ghizzoni.
