Akin Gump Advises AstroBank on Sale of 74.9% of Its Stake in Trusset Asset Management Limited

(London) – Akin Gump is advising Cypriot Bank AstroBank on the sale of 74.9 percent of its stake in Trusset Asset Management to Qualco Group, a leading independent servicer of non-performing exposures (NPEs), following an international competitive bidding process. Trusset is a newly formed company for the management of AstroBank’s portfolio of NPEs and real estate owned assets. AstroBank will retain 25.1 percent of Trusset.

The transaction, which is anticipated to improve AstroBank’s capital adequacy ratio by approximately one percent, was signed on December 31, 2019, and is subject to a number of conditions including the approval of the Competition Authority in Cyprus.

London corporate partner Gavin Weir, who is leading the Akin Gump team, said: “This is an important transaction in the Cyprus banking market. Reducing NPEs is a strategic priority for many European banks, and indeed the Eurozone as a whole, and this is one of a number of similar transactions anticipated to take place in the coming months. We are delighted to be advising AstroBank on this important milestone in its strategic plans. This further demonstrates the strength of our presence in the European M&A space, particularly our work on non-performing loan servicing deals and in the wider financial institutions industry.”

In addition to Mr. Weir, the Akin Gump team advising AstroBank includes finance partner Sam Brodie, corporate partner Harry Keegan, and corporate associates Rebecca Carwood Barron, Dougall Meston and Akito Watkin, and finance counsel Chris Parrott.

Koushos Korfiotis Papacharalambous LLC is advising AstroBank in relation to Cyprus law.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers and advisors in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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