Kommersant has learned that VTB (MOEX: VTBR) has put a 16 billion ruble debt portfolio up for sale, marking a record offer on the debt cession market in recent years. To simplify the sale, the bank has divided the portfolio into 69 lots and distributed it across four major trading platforms. Professional debt collectors value VTB’s debts highly, at 10-12%, despite the fact that the loans are unsecured and more than two years overdue.
Market participants reported that VTB has announced a tender to sell retail overdue debt on four platforms simultaneously. The total value of the portfolio offered for sale is 16 billion rubles. The debts are unsecured and overdue for more than two years, a significant portion of which has already been escalated, Kommersant’s sources noted. The auction is scheduled for late October. The portfolio is being sold only for VTB’s own debt, not for the debts of its merged banks.
VTB explained to Kommersant that the portfolio includes unsecured loans: credit cards, consumer loans, and unsecured car loans.
«These debts are being put up for sale that are more economically viable to sell than to settle through the bank’s internal divisions,» VTB explained. «These clients were previously offered all possible settlement options.» The bank added that the portfolio is divided into 69 lots with an average outstanding amount of approximately 172 million rubles. «Placing the offer on several platforms in an open auction format attracts a larger number of buyers, creates competition among them, and maximizes the final transaction amount,» VTB emphasized.
The volume of assignments put up for sale this year is, on average, a quarter higher than the figures for the past two years, VTB noted. «This is a general trend: loan defaults from years when unsecured loan issuances were actively growing year-on-year are now ‘ripening,'» the bank explains. «We didn’t sell assignments in the first quarter and don’t plan to in the fourth quarter, meaning the current volume is within the planned business plan.» The total volume offered on four platforms represents a very large portfolio for the current year and is quite significant for a specific seller, says Tatyana Volegova, Commercial Director of the overdue debt collection service ID Collect. «Such portfolios are anticipated, and demand for them is high,» she adds.
Given the number and average value of lots, there will undoubtedly be several buyers.
The range of bidders is quite broad—from small regional agencies that may target specific portfolios based, for example, on their geography, to major buyers focused on billion-dollar purchases. Indeed, this portfolio can be considered large if we’re talking about a one-time sale, the press service of the National Association of Professional Collection Agencies agrees: «For a one-time sale, this is a record, but when converted into monthly lots, this is a normal figure, as some creditors list their portfolios regularly, while others list them with varying frequency, and it’s entirely logical that their sizes will vary.»
Market participants note that breaking the portfolio into a large number of lots is in line with new market trends (see Kommersant of October 17). «This is a trend this year, as it allows us to attract smaller companies that are limited in funds but would like to develop their business in the cession segment to the auction,» explains Evgeniya Utkina, Deputy General Director of ABK (the company owns the «Debt Market» electronic trading platform). «For larger companies, this is an opportunity to minimize risks if the portfolio is of average quality.»
According to Marat Bruk, CEO of the trading platform Debex, it’s too early to discuss the hypothetical sale price of VTB’s portfolios.
«Firstly, this isn’t the only offer from the bank’s portfolios,» he explains. «Secondly, the final price also depends on whether there are budgets left to purchase debt from debt collectors.» Nevertheless, Kommersant’s sources are confident that the sale price will be around 10-12%, which is significant even for secured debt. «VTB lots are always in high demand because they have fairly comprehensive data and generally adequate delinquency quality. And the price for them is always above average,» notes one of Kommersant’s sources. Drive Click Bank previously sold secured car loans at 9%, and market participants considered this a good price (see Kommersant, October 15).
Source: www.kommersant.ru