Cerberus Capital Management’s £485m deal to buy National Australia Bank’s Project Chestnut is set to trigger a circa £300m financing mandate.
The private equity firm was selected as the winner of the UK NPL portfolio on 25 July from a four-strong shortlist including Pimco, CarVal Investors and Oaktree Capital Management.
The US group’s bid is understood to reflect a discount of around 28% on the £674m face value of the portfolio.
Credit Suisse is expected to ?be high in the queue to provide debt for the purchase having worked with the firm on a number of previous NPL deals, including the provision of a €675m (£535m) loan for a €1bn Lloyds deal.
The Swiss bank provided the three-year loan-on-loan facility, with a margin in the low 300 basis points range, reflecting a 65% loan-to-cost in January.
The deal was for two pools of continental European loans, Project Bravo and Charlie, as part of the Project Hampton process.
Japanese bank Nomura is also thought to be among the contenders to finance the granular portfolio.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
