Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, is reported to be exploring options for Netherlands-based lender NIBC Bank.
These include a potential sale of the ship finance bank, reported Bloomberg quoting unnamed sources said to have knowledge of the matter.
Blackstone’s deliberations are said to be ongoing and there is no certainty they will result in a formal sales process, the sources added.
Blackstone may decide to keep NIBC and grow it through acquisitions, as the bank has accumulated excess capital in recent years, they said.
Blackstone agreed to acquire the bank in 2020 for roughly €1bn ($1.1bn), having negotiated a lower price during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since then, the private equity firm is said to have streamlined NIBC, moving it away from businesses including leveraged finance and mergers and acquisitions advice to focus on mortgages and asset-backed lending.
NIBC has sold off its offshore energy and leveraged finance portfolios, as well as several structured finance exposures, as it focuses on core activities.
It has been able to cut non-core exposure by 29% to €3.8bn, with the ambition to reduce this in 2023 to below €2bn.
NIBC, which was founded in 1945 to help finance the rebuilding of the Netherlands after World War II, currently has a maritime portfolio of €1.11bn.
The lender says its shipping portfolio has grown by 30% in the last two years, while the credit profile of the portfolio improved, as the impaired exposures reduced to only 1.7% of the total portfolio.
Lending on gas and chemical tankers makes up 35% of the current book, followed by dry bulk (33%), crude tankers (21%) and intermodal and other ship types (12%).
Non-performing exposures in shipping stood at €35m on 31 December, with €19m of loans in stage three, the highest level of restructuring before default.
Underlying net profit for the year was described as strong at €179m, but it was down from €193m in 2021. Revenue declined to €473m from €510m.
Representatives for Blackstone and NIBC declined to comment, Bloomberg reported.
NIBC is the latest ship finance bank to face a potential change in ownership.
In January shipping and commodities bank Standard Chartered was the subject of a potential takeover bid by the Middle East’s largest lender.
First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) confirmed that it had considered making an offer for the emerging markets-focused bank, according to a regulatory filing.
Two months later UBS agreed a takeover of Swiss rival Credit Suisse the biggest lender to Greek shipping and the world’s 10th-largest ship lender overall.
