The Central Bank of Cyprus granted B2Kapital, a subsidiary of Norway’s B2Holding Group, licence number 115.1.34.6 allowing it to operate as a credit acquiring company, under the sale of credit facilities and related matters law of 2015, the Limassol-based company said in an emailed statement recently.

The price of the transaction announced by Hellenic in January remains undisclosed.

B2Holding which employees 2,400 experts in 23 countries in Europe, and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, is “one of the top 10 debt buyers and portfolio managers” in the European market of non-performing loans, the company said.

It added that it views the island, whose banking sector is struggling with a €22bn mountain of delinquent loans, almost half of its banks’ loan portfolio, “as an interesting market with growth potential”.

The company said that its parent company is rated Ba3 by Moody’s Investors Service and BB- by Standard & Poor’s with both ratings carrying a stable outlook.

In 2015, Cyprus introduced legislation allowing the sale of loans to third parties as part of the terms of its bailout agreed with international creditors in 2013. B2Kapital’s agreement with Hellenic Bank is the biggest of the type announced so far.

Source: Cyprus Mail