Piraeus Bank to sell $1.7 billion bad loans to Bain Capital

Greece’s largest lender Piraeus Bank said on Tuesday it had agreed to sell a 1.45 billion euro ($1.7 billion) portfolio of secured, non-performing business loans to Bain Capital Credit as part of moves to reduce its bad debts.

Greek banks have been under regulatory pressure to tackle their bad debt problem, which restricts their ability to expand credit and help the economy recover, with so-called non-performing exposures (NPEs) being their biggest challenge.

Piraeus said the deal, subject to approval by regulators and Greece’s HFSF bank rescue fund, which owns 26.2 percent of the lender, would reduce its NPE ratio by 100 basis points and boost equity capital by 20 basis points. [Reuters]