歐洲銀行甩賣問題資產

誰在買入

????歐洲銀行正在抓緊時間進行瘦身。但出售5萬億歐元的資產需要時間，也需要有財力非常雄厚的買家——國際銀行和投資公司，如對沖基金。但現在看來歐洲銀行還沒有達到恐慌性拋售的地步，因為歐洲央行已有效地化解了銀行業的流動性風險，它們不會在一夜之間倒閉。歐洲銀行業有了一定的喘息空間，有望能通過討價還價將一些資產賣個好價錢。鑒于歐元區危機持續，需求最旺盛的資產是歐洲銀行的海外資產。這類資產大多來自大銀行。

????“我們看到歐洲銀行系統有幾十億歐元的資產在售，來自多個國家的許多銀行，”資產管理規模為100億美元的對沖基金——馬拉松資產管理公司（Marathon Asset Management）的聯合董事總經理和首席執行官布魯斯?理查上上周告訴《財富》雜志（Fortune）?！霸跉W盟的27個成員國中，有10個國家的銀行出售的資產占到總額的90%以上。”

????歐洲人率先開始將海外資產售予資產所在地的銀行和投資公司。他們也希望將海外的子公司剝離給當地銀行和投資公司。據理查稱，良性資產似乎以平價或接近平價出售。銀行業看來不愿大幅折價出售良性資產，一些希望撿便宜的買家暫難如愿。

????但歐洲銀行業看來確實愿意就不良資產達成交易。對沖基金經理們告訴《財富》雜志，已有幾家歐洲銀行和他們接觸，洽談出售幾十億歐元的貸款資產包，資產包里滿是五花八門的不良證券化資產，如商業和住宅按揭支持證券。馬拉松資產管理公司已以六折的價格向某家歐洲銀行（銀行名稱未予披露）買入這樣的一個資產包，理查預計公司在此項投資上的回報率至少為15%左右。

????每個貸款資產包都是定制的，因此銀行和基金經理們都在對資產包內容進行大量的盡職調查。理查稱，馬拉松資產管理公司對另一個證券化產品包的出價僅為兩折，因為其質量不如之前購入的資產包。現在還不清楚銀行是否會接受這么低的價格，但看來他們愿意考慮這些能幫助他們處置所有不良資產的提議。

????只要有歐洲央行撐腰，歐洲銀行業就不用著急。但如果歐洲決策層不能解決歐元區面臨的結構性問題，一旦歐元崩潰，由此引發違約潮，即便是歐洲央行也救不了銀行業。

Who's buying

????Banks have wasted no time slimming down. But the sale of 5 trillion euros worth of assets is going to take time and will need buyers with very deep pockets -- global banks and investment firms, like hedge funds. But the selling banks don't appear to be in panic mode just yet. That's because the ECB has effectively absorbed the banks' liquidity risk, which means that they won't be collapsing overnight. This has given the banks some breathing room, allowing them to negotiate some strong deals for some of their assets. Given the stress in the eurozone, the assets that are the most in demand are the banks' foreign assets. The majority of those assets seem to be coming from the big banks.

????"We are seeing billions of assets for sale from the European banking system from many banks in multiple different countries," Bruce Richards, the co-managing partner and chief executive of Marathon Asset Management, a $10 billion hedge fund, told Fortune last week. "From the 27 countries in the EU, the banks in 10 countries represent over 90% of the asset disposition."

????The Europeans are first offloading their foreign holdings to banks and investment firms where those assets live. They are also looking to spin off subsidiaries in foreign countries to local bank and investment firms. Performing assets seem to be selling at or near par value, Richards says. The banks appear unwilling to let those go at steep discounts, frustrating some buyers hoping to make a quick buck.

????But the banks do seem willing to cut a deal on those assets that aren't doing so well. Hedge fund managers tell Fortune that they have been approached by several European banks looking to offload large multi-billion euro loan packages, which have been stuffed with a hodge-podge of dodgy securitized assets, like commercial and residential mortgage backed securities. Marathon has been a buyer and managed to snap up one of those packages from an undisclosed European bank for 60 cents on the dollar. Richards expects the firm to make a return at least in the mid-teens on that investment.

????Each of these loan packages are bespoke, so banks and fund managers are doing a lot of due diligence on what's inside of them. Richards says Marathon just bid 20 cents on the dollar on another package of securitized products that were of lesser quality than the firm bought earlier. It is unclear if the banks are willing to go down that low, but it seems that they are willing to entertain such offers that could help them offload all those risky assets.

????The banks can continue to take their time as long as the ECB has their back. But if European leaders fail to fix the structural problems plaguing the eurozone, not even the ECB can save the banks from the deluge of defaults that could come from a broken euro.