NordLB Not Selling Shipping Loans to KKR

The German shipping bank Norddeutsche Landesbank (Nord/LB) has given up on the decision to sell its shipping loans to KKR, Nord/LB confirmed to World Maritime News.

The company said that the parties “agreed to not pursue the mentioned shipping portfolio transaction anymore.”

Under the previous sale agreement reached between the companies, Nord/LB was supposed to sell a portfolio of performing and non-performing shipping loans with a total volume of about USD 1.5 billion to KKR.

The shipping bank was reportedly expecting to complete the sale by the end of June, however, the parties were not able to reach an agreement on the loans.

In August 2016, Nord/LB informed that the contract was to include up to 100 ships and would form the seed mandate for a shipping portfolio management company that the investors would create simultaneously with the closing of this sale.

The deal was a part of the shipping bank’s efforts to reduce its overall ship loan exposure from its current volume of EUR 19 billion due to a slowdown in the shipping market.

The bank was planning to cut the exposure by outsourcing risks and targeted reduction to a future volume of some EUR 12 to 14 billion.

World Maritime News Staff