Special servicers are under increasing pressure as the volume of maturing European securitised debt reaches record levels.
Ratings agency Fitch said €2.6bn (£2.1bn) of debt comes due in January – the largest monthly volume since the onset of the credit crisis.
This contributes to a bumper annual total of €10.8bn, up from €3.8bn in 2011.
It said that the large monthly total, spread across 36 loans, adds to its concerns “about special servicers’ capacity to handle growing loan portfolios”.
Because most of the loans maturing this month are backed by non-prime assets for which there is a shortage of debt for refinancing, Fitch said that restructuring and work-outs will follow, adding to special servicers’ workload.
Another concern is the sheer size of the loans scheduled to mature this month. Six of the 36 loans that are due to mature in January have balances in excess of €100m, which make them difficult to refinance in the current restricted lending market.
The comments, from Fitch’s January report, come after Hatfield Philips International was appointed as special servicer by junior lender Pearsanta on the defaulted securitised debt secured on Irish entrepreneur Noel Smyth’s £120m UK property portfolio.
The move could lead to a fresh analysis of the properties, if it is approved.
Until then, loan servicer Rothschild will not take any further action in respect of the enforcement and disposal plan recommended by its adviser, Brookland Partners.
