PPCC: Pisitófilos Creditófagos. Primavera 2024

[Derby]

https://cincodias.elpais.com/companias/2024-05-17/sareb-vende-a-axactor-una-cartera-de-creditos-de-1500-millones.html

Sareb vende a Axactor una cartera de créditos de 1.500 millones

El banco malo se deshace de préstamos improductivos en la que será su única transacción de este tipo en 2024


Javier Torres, presidente de Sareb (izquierda), y Leopoldo Puig, consejero delegado, en sendas imágenes cedidas por la empresa.

Sareb acaba de cerrar la que será su operación del año en ventas de portfolios. La (Sociedad de Gestión de Activos procedentes de la Banca) ha traspasado a la compañía noruega Axactor una cartera, llamada Génova, con valor de 1.500 millones y compuesta por créditos fallidos sin garantía hipotecaria, según revelan fuentes del sector. El asesor financiero de la operación ha sido PwC.

Cinco Días publicó a inicios de esta semana que Sareb tenía en el mercado esta cartera y había preparado el proceso para traspasar otra llamada Guiza, por 800 millones de préstamos con garantía hipotecaria. Finalmente, según las fuentes de sector, el conocido como banco malo ha decidido no realizar la transacción de Guiza.

Esta gran transacción será la única de este tipo de venta de carteras de créditos improductivos, que tienen origen a empresas promotoras y no particulares. El año pasado ya vendió otra de 3.000 millones, bautizada como Victoria, también a Axactor. Esa cartera fue la mayor de su historia traspasada por volumen nominal.

Los 1.500 millones traspasados son de valor nominal, ya que su valor real es muy inferior, aunque el importe no ha trascendido. Se trata de préstamos unsecured (en inglés utilizado en el argot financiero) o sin colateral inmobiliario.

El comprador, Axactor, es una empresa cotizada en Oslo. Se dedica a la compra de este tipo de créditos NPL (non performin loans) a los bancos, que penalizan a las entidades financieras y tienen interés en desprenderse de ellos, para gestionar esa deuda y realizar el cobro.

Sareb nació en 2012 con más de 200.000 créditos e inmuebles procedentes de las cajas con problemas ligados al ladrillo. La sociedad, que tiene un periodo de vida hasta 2027, ha logrado reducir en 24.456 millones el volumen de esos activos, ya que arrancó su actividad con 50.781 millones. En la actualidad, cuenta con 8.795 millones en préstamos fallidos y 14.309 millones en inmuebles.

La entidad financiera presidida por Javier Torres cambió desde hace unos años su estrategia de ventas de grandes carteras, ya que la prioridad ahora pasa por transformar los créditos fallidos en inmuebles mediante la adjudicación, vía judicial, y su posterior venta en el canal minorista. Eso supone más tiempo para la empresa pero también lograr un mayor retorno.

En sus inicios, Sareb traspasó grandes carteras a entidades como H.I. G., Deutsche Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Canyon, Oaktree, entre otras.

Desde 2022, esta entidad es pública, controlada en un 50% por el FROB (dependiente del Ministerio de Economía de Carlos Cuerpo). Aunque cuenta con inversores privados como Santander (22,2% del capital), Caixabank (12,2%) y Sabadell (6,6%).

La venta de carteras como Génova servirán a la entidad como ingresos que en gran parte van a amortizar su enorme deuda. El banco malo se endeudó en 50.781 millones en el momento de su nacimiento para comprar los activos de las entidades con problemas y otro de sus cometidos es ir reduciendo esa deuda, avalada por el Tesoro, con la caja del negocio. El pasado año, la empresa pública amortizó 1.068 millones de ese pasivo, por lo que todavía le queda 29.413 millones de endeudamiento.

[Cadavre Exquis]

https://www.eleconomista.es/opinion/noticias/12820925/05/24/errores-que-atrapan-a-los-autonomos.html

https://www.eleconomista.es/economia/noticias/12820963/05/24/cerca-de-170000-autonomos-tendran-que-devolver-las-ayudas-ligadas-al-covid.html

Saludos.

[sudden and sharp]

--------------

[Derby]

https://www.ft.com/content/481d418e-9366-4152-8ec5-92b81d020991

Russian court seizes assets worth €700mn from UniCredit, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank

Move against western lenders follows dispute with a subsidiary of Gazprom

A St Petersburg court has seized over €700mn-worth of assets belonging to three western banks — UniCredit, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank — according to court documents.

The seizure marks one of the biggest moves against western lenders since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted most international lenders to withdraw or wind down their businesses in Russia. It comes after the European Central Bank told Eurozone lenders with operations in the country to speed up their exit plans.

The moves follow a claim from Ruskhimalliance, a subsidiary of Gazprom, the Russian oil and gas giant that holds a monopoly on pipeline gas exports.

The court seized €463mn-worth of assets belonging to Italy’s UniCredit, equivalent to about 4.5 per cent of its assets in the country, according to the latest financial statement from the bank’s main Russian subsidiary.

Frozen assets include shares in subsidiaries of UniCredit in Russia as well as stocks and funds it owned, according to the court decision that was dated May 16 and was published in the Russian registrar on Friday.

According to another decision on the same date, the court seized €238.6mn-worth of Deutsche Bank’s assets, including property and holdings in its accounts in Russia.

The court also ruled that the bank cannot sell its business in Russia; it would already require the approval of Vladimir Putin to do so. The court agreed with Rukhimallians that the measures were necessary because the bank was “taking measures aimed at alienating its property in Russia”.

On Friday, the court decided to seize Commerzbank assets, but the details of the decision have not yet been made public so the value of the seizure is not known. Ruskhimalliance asked the court to freeze up to €94.9mn-worth of the lender’s assets.

The dispute with the western banks began in August 2023 when Ruskhimalliance went to an arbitration court in St Petersburg demanding they pay bank guarantees under a contract with the German engineering company Linde.

Ruskhimalliance is the operator of a gas processing plant and production facilities for liquefied natural gas in Ust-Luga near St Petersburg. In July 2021, it signed a contract with Linde for the design, supply of equipment and construction of the complex. A year later, Linde suspended work owing to EU sanctions.

Ruskhimalliance then turned to the guarantor banks, which refused to fulfil their obligations because “the payment to the Russian company could violate European sanctions”, the company said in the court filing.

The list of guarantors also includes Bayerische Landesbank and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, against which Ruskhimalliance has also filed lawsuits in the St Petersburg court.

UniCredit said it had been made aware of the filing and “only assets commensurate with the case would be in scope of the interim measure”.

Deutsche Bank said it was “fully protected by an indemnification from a client” and had taken a provision of about €260mn alongside a “corresponding reimbursement asset” in its accounts to cover the Russian lawsuit.

“We will need to see how this claim is implemented by the Russian courts and assess the immediate operational impact in Russia,” it added.

Commerzbank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Italy’s foreign minister has called a meeting on Monday to discuss the seizures affecting UniCredit, two people with knowledge of the plans told the Financial Times.

UniCredit is one of the largest European lenders in Russia, employing more than 3,000 people through its subsidiary there. This month the Italian bank reported that its Russian business had made a net profit of €213mn in the first quarter, up from €99mn a year earlier.

It has set aside more than €800mn in provisions and has significantly cut back its loan portfolio. Chief executive Andrea Orcel said this month that while the lender was “continuing to de-risk” its Russian operation, a full exit from the country would be complicated.

The FT reported on Friday that the European Central Bank had asked Eurozone lenders with operations in the country for detailed plans on their exit strategies as tensions between Moscow and the west grow.

Legal challenges over assets held by western banks have complicated their efforts to extricate themselves. Last month, a Russian court ordered the seizure of more than $400mn of funds from JPMorgan Chase following a legal challenge by Kremlin-run lender VTB. A court subsequently cancelled part of the planned seizure, Reuters reported.

[Cadavre Exquis]

Otra muesca en el revólver de pp.cc.:

El Tema de la semana La economía conseguirá el hito histórico de controlar la inflación

https://www.eleconomista.es/economia/noticias/12820910/05/24/el-consumo-y-el-empleo-propiciaran-un-aterrizaje-suave-del-pib-de-eeuu.html

https://www.eleconomista.es/mercados-cotizaciones/noticias/12821164/05/24/los-bancos-centrales-logran-volver-a-meter-la-inflacion-en-el-tubo-de-la-pasta-de-dientes.html

https://www.eleconomista.es/economia/noticias/12820945/05/24/el-mercado-sube-tres-decimas-hasta-el-29-el-alza-de-la-economia-global.html

Saludos.

[Cadavre Exquis]

https://www.eleconomista.es/banca-finanzas/noticias/12819697/05/24/de-guindos-aboga-por-las-fusiones-bancarias-transfronterizas.html

Saludos.

[Cadavre Exquis]

https://www.eleconomista.es/vivienda-inmobiliario/noticias/12819596/05/24/el-esfuerzo-del-alquiler-cruza-la-linea-roja-en-ocho-capitales-barcelona-y-palma-estan-en-situacion-critica-.html

https://www.pressreader.com/spain/el-economista/20240517/page/39/textview

Los concursos de acreedores repuntan un 50,5% en abril

Saludos.

[Cadavre Exquis]

https://www.europapress.es/economia/macroeconomia-00338/noticia-deuda-publica-suma-10400-millones-marzo-registra-maximos-161-billones-20240517102459.html

Saludos.

[Cadavre Exquis]

https://www.eleconomista.es/economia/noticias/12820883/05/24/el-ipc-de-la-zona-euro-se-estanca-a-las-puertas-del-primer-recorte-de-tipos-del-bce.html

Saludos.

[Saturio]

https://countrymeters.info/es/Spain

Saludos.

Hay algo raro ahí. No se a qué se refieren con "este año" pero el dato de nacimientos y defunciones me parece rarísimo porque llevamos varios años consecutivos con más defunciones que nacimientos. En concreto, en 2023 fueron 430.000 defunciones frente a 322.000 nacimientos. En 2022 464.417 y 329.251...
Desde 2017 el crecimiento vegetativo es negativo y de valor absoluto creciente, teniendo en cuenta que 2020 fue una excepción.

[asustadísimos]

DÍA IMPORTANTE, ESTE 18 DE MAYO DE 2024, 50.º ANIVERSARIO DE LA BOMBA ATÓMICA INDIA.—

Al anglo y al gorrión, perdigón.



¡'Prevail' del ucraniano —de cosaco ruso colonizador de Siberia— sobre el anglo! Y no ha sido tan 'a los puntos' como parece.

'Alea jacta est'.

Empieza simbólicamente el Hostión-2025, que es un proceso determinado por la ignominia del Occidente más occidental, iniciada con el 'bréxit', seguida de Trump y coronada con Milei.

En el Oriente más occidental, el presidente de la Internacional Socialista ha asestado una combinación de 'jab' y 'uppercut' a la mandíbula moral de la señorita Ayuso, con lo que ha convertido en 'prosanchezista' cualquier intento de operación interna de saneamiento de la fecalidad de la ex-'hactibo' electoral defenestradora de máximos dirigentes de su partido político:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jexEzGZFld8

Que conste que a nosotros nos interesa no porque sea una poneboquitas a la que le hiede el aliento, sino porque Ayuso es Hostión-2025 quintaesenciado y, precisamente, en el centro de todos los centros inmobiliarios españoles ('Mierdrid'); encima, con vocación atlántica y americana, es decir, con 'prevalence' del epicentro del Hostión-2025 mundial (min. 02:01):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi1DUyZU_yg&t=121s

¿En qué creen ustedes que piensa Ayuso cuando pronuncia la frase «defensa de la propiedad»? Ahora sabemos que, en este 'discurso de cervecería' (cfr. la 'Bürgerbräukeller' de Múnich), la sinvergüenza ya sabía que trascendería su carencia de escrúpulos. Incluso se veía haciendo cola los días de vis a vis.

[Cadavre Exquis]

https://x.com/diasasaigonados/status/1791827470078910853

Saludos.

[Cadavre Exquis]

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1791818808908296275

Saludos.

[Derby]

https://www.ft.com/content/14dc656c-9a26-4c0b-aca5-b0893e7dcfaf

Are the US and Chinese economies really about to start ‘decoupling’?

Experts say Biden’s tariffs on Chinese clean tech goods are not the trade-war move some fear


Few Washington experts considered the new US measures to be either a ‘decoupling’ or to mark the outbreak of a new trade war © FT montage/Shutterstock/Getty

Just over a year ago, US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen argued in a speech that Washington was not trying to decouple from China, saying a “full separation” of the economies would be “disastrous” for both countries.

A week later, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan borrowed a phrase from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in saying the US was pursuing a policy of “de-risking” and not decoupling.

The rhetoric was designed to rebut Chinese criticism that the US was taking actions, such as technology-related export controls, to constrain China’s rise.

The Biden administration officials wanted China to understand that the US would continue to take measures to protect national and economic security, even as the countries tried to stabilise relations that had hit rock bottom after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over the US.

The testy relationship came into focus again this week, when President Joe Biden sharply raised tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles and other clean energy products.

Beijing accused the US president of reneging on his pledge “not to seek decoupling from China”, while critics accused Biden of pandering to blue-collar workers in states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan — critical electoral battlegrounds in November’s presidential election.

Others asked if the Democratic president was using tariffs as a weapon in an attempt to look tougher on China than Donald Trump, his Republican rival in this year’s White House race — who launched a trade war on China in 2018 and has recently pledged to hit all the country’s imports into the US with a 60 per cent levy.

While Washington experts debated the merits of using tariffs to protect US industry, few considered the measures announced this week to be either a “decoupling” or to mark the outbreak of a new trade war.

Emily Kilcrease, a trade expert at the Center for a New American Security think-tank, said the higher levies announced on Monday on EVs and other clean tech products including batteries was an “intensification of the de-risking agenda”.

De-risking is a term covering everything from reducing security threats from Beijing to diversifying US dependence on Chinese supply chains.

Biden had targeted sectors at the centre of US-China competition, she said, but had added a novel factor with tariffs. “The default policy tools, such as export controls, are utterly ineffective in technology areas where China already has significant capacity and . . . overcapacity in some cases.”

Clete Willems, a former White House trade official in the Trump administration, had a different term that reflected the new measures’ tailored focus on certain sectors.

“The juxtaposition between full decoupling and merely de-risking is too broad of a gap,” he said. “This is strategic decoupling.”


One trade expert said the best interpretation of the tariffs was simply that Washington was trying to stop China from getting a foothold in parts of the US’s emerging clean energy sector © Chen Bin/VCG/Reuters

Until Monday, Biden had largely focused on security-related measures to stop China from acquiring advanced US technology, such as semiconductors. Sullivan described this narrow strategy focused on key sectors, such as artificial intelligence, as a “small yard, high fence” approach.

The question for some on Tuesday was whether Biden was changing tack in an appeal to the blue-collar voters he and Trump are courting across the US industrial rust-belt.

Following a statutory review of the tariffs that Trump had put on $300bn worth of Chinese goods during his trade war, Biden — who had criticised the tariffs when they were introduced — kept the levies in place, but added the others on clean energy products.

Willems said: “What you are seeing is a lot of symbolism that is clearly politically driven.”


US President Joe Biden raised tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles and other clean energy products this week © Zhu Haipeng/VCG/Reuters

Emily Benson, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank, said it was important to look at each product that was targeted in Biden’s new tariff regime. Deterring imports of EVs, for example, was hardly an instance of decoupling given the Chinese auto sector and US economy “were not significantly intertwined to begin with”.

Doubling the tariff on Chinese semiconductors to 50 per cent would likewise have limited impact because the US imported few of the chips. By contrast, any targeting of finished products that included chips would marked a new move to decouple.

Brad Setser, a trade expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the best interpretation of the tariffs was simply that Washington was trying to stop China from getting a foothold in parts of the US’s emerging clean energy sector.

“It was designed to avoid ‘coupling’ in sectors that historically have not been integrated, like autos where China hasn’t been a major source of supply to the US,” Setser said. “Since it doesn’t cover the rest of trade, it doesn’t seem to me likely to result in further decoupling.”

[Derby]

https://www.ft.com/content/27a1864b-53e8-4c8c-afdc-b7763ed42363

Dollar rally falters as falling inflation raises hopes of rate cuts

US currency on track for first negative month of the year after end to months of above-forecast CPI data


Recent falls in inflation mean investors have raised their bets on the Fed delivering two quarter-point rate cuts this year © Bloomberg

A rally in the US dollar this year has gone into reverse as investors bet that falling inflation in the world’s largest economy will give the Federal Reserve more room to cut interest rates.

The greenback, which had gained as much as 5 per cent this year by mid-April against a basket of currencies, is now on track for its first down month of 2024 after the rate of consumer price inflation eased in line with forecasts on Wednesday.

The reading, after months of higher than expected inflation, has helped allay fears that the Fed may not be able to cut rates much this year, or may even have to raise them again from a 23-year high to control price growth.

“Fed pricing matters more than anything else in markets at the moment,” said Athanasios Vamvakidis, head of G10 foreign exchange strategy at Bank of America.

“The inflation data this week meant another rate hike is off the table . . . now it’s just a matter of time until they start cutting,” he added.

Investors had a major rethink on the path of interest rate this year as US inflation rose in both February and March. That helped lead traders to drastically reduce bets on rate cuts, while hedge funds tore up their bearish bets against a resurgent dollar.

But after Wednesday’s reading showed a fall in inflation to 3.4 per cent, traders have raised their wagers on the Fed delivering two quarter-point rate cuts this year.

The dollar suffered its worst day of the year on Wednesday. Despite a partial rebound later in the week, it is still down 1.4 per cent this month.


Line chart of US dollar performance against a basket of six currencies (%) showing Dollar rally falters

Analysts say the recent softening of US data, which started early this month when a critical jobs report undershot expectations, could be the start of a sustained period of dollar weakening, although given the economy is still relatively robust any declines could take time.

“I think we are at a turning point but we are going to faff around here for some indeterminate period of time,” said Kit Juckes, a foreign exchange strategist at Société Générale. “The dollar bull is running short of arguments for the next leg higher.”

The dollar has weakened alongside a fall in US government borrowing costs, which has helped drive stock markets in the US, Germany and the UK to record highs this week.

The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield — a key driver of asset prices across the globe — has fallen to 4.3 per cent, having reached 4.7 per cent late last month, as traders have raised bets on more than one Fed rate cut this year. Yields fall as prices rise.

This month’s dollar weakening follows a recent build-up of bets against the currency among hedge funds, which started selling the currency last month and have become “firmly short”, according to Sam Hewson, head of foreign exchange sales at Citigroup.

Asset managers, however, maintain their overweight positions, Hewson said. When their positioning differs from hedge funds, “historical patterns suggest . . . it is best to be short” the dollar, he added.

The recent moves come as welcome news to central bankers around the world, who have been struggling to deal with rising US Treasury yields and the dollar’s persistent strength. That has particularly been the case in Japan, where the ministry of finance is thought to have sold around $59bn of dollars in recent weeks to support its ailing currency.

“A weaker dollar makes life a little bit easier for Tokyo,” said Chris Turner, a currency strategist at ING, pointing out that the Japanese currency is more sensitive to shifts in US rate expectations than to rising borrowing costs in its own market.

The evaporation of expectations for a possible US rate rise could also increase room for manoeuvre at the European Central Bank which is widely expected to start cutting interest rates in June.

ECB President Christine Lagarde has been clear that Europe can start lowering borrowing costs ahead of the Fed. But if the US central bank were to raise rates again this year while rates come down in Europe, that could put the bloc’s currency under significant pressure and risk stoking inflation.

“The latest US data is good news for the ECB,” said BofA’s Vamvakidis. “It means the ECB can cut in June without being too concerned the euro would weaken.”