illimity SGR, the illimity Group’s asset management company created to set up and manage alternative investment funds, has completed the first closing of the illimity Credit & Corporate Turnaround Fund (iCCT), a contribution fund dedicated to investments in Unlikely To Pay (UTP) loans to SMEs with revival and relaunch prospects.
The initial portfolio consists of loans for a gross total of over EUR200 million made to 33 companies operating in highly diversified sectors. These loans have been sold by seven banks and banking groups (Banca Popolare di Sondrio, Banca Sella, Banco Desio, Bnl Gruppo Bnp Paribas, BPER Gruppo, Gruppo Bancario Cooperativo Iccrea, Gruppo La Cassa di Ravenna), which have then become unit holders in the Fund.
The initial cash facilities – subscribed by institutional investors, including illimity Bank – amount to EUR25 million, that will be used to service the acquired loans and support the turnaround of the companies in which the Fund has invested.
More specifically, the illimity Credit & Corporate Turnaround Fund presents a number of highly innovative features (including the possibility of acquiring and managing fully operational short-term credit lines as well as, through a securitisation structure, receivables and leasing agreements in continuity), which enable banks to fully transfer their financial exposure regardless of the technical forms used and to benefit from the restructuring process of the corporates.
The Fund will support a financial restructuring of businesses designed not only to overcome a crisis but also to make the most of their potential and pursue a concrete prospect of recovery.
Paola Tondelli, Head of illimity SGR’s UTP & Turnaround Funds unit, says: “The Management Team of our first turnaround fund effectively combines financial and industrial skills that allow us to look beyond the reports to capture the potential of the companies in which the Fund invests. This first turnaround fund, which has very innovative technical features, will soon be followed by other initiatives, always aimed at relaunching the entrepreneurial soul of the country, which will find in illimity SGR a new type of support, not only financial, but also advisory for a strategic vision”.
Massimo Di Carlo, Chairman of illimity SGR, adds: “The closing of our iCCT fund represents the first, very important step in the SGR’s multi-product strategy aimed at bringing innovative funds to the attention of our institutional clients. The new funds will focus both on SMEs and on those sectors where we will be able to operate by leveraging the distinctive skills of the group.”
