Mount Street acquires portfolio management subsidiary from EAA

Mount Street acquires EAA Portfolio Advisers GmbH (EPA) and contract to manage €29bn portfolio for EAA

Mount Street is pleased to announce the successful agreement with Erste Abwicklungsanstalt (EAA) to acquire EAA Portfolio Advisors (EPA). At the end of 2009, EAA was created as the Asset Management Company/"bad bank” to manage the assets of the former WestLB AG. EAA was founded as a public law agency under the German Financial Market Stabilisation Fund Act. Its shareholders include the German State of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) and NRW’s Savings Banks Associations. EAA took over the responsibility for the wind-down of WestLB’s portfolio of more than €200bn comprising a diverse range of complex non-performing loans, ABS, leveraged credit, asset finance and structured finance assets.

EPA has managed this portfolio over the past 7 years and has enabled EAA to reduce the outstanding balance to approximately €29bn, while always remaining ahead of the plan agreed with EAA and its stakeholders. By all measures, both EAA and EPA have delivered excellent results for their stakeholders.

Mount Street will take over EPA, including its approximately 90 employees at offices in London, Düsseldorf, New York and Madrid, following regulatory approval which is expected in the first half of 2017.

With AUM of €29bn, this platform transfer and management contract is by far the largest of its kind ever completed in Europe. The selection of Mount Street by EAA comes after a rigorous selection process spanning more than six months to identify the partner best qualified to provide the optimal combination of integrity, professionalism and experience in the structured credit asset class, together with the highest standard of commitment and responsiveness to client requirements and sensitivities.

With this acquisition Mount Street adds portfolio management of €29bn of diversified performing and non-performing credits to approximately €26bn of commercial real estate loans and bonds that the company currently manages, bringing the total AUM to over €55bn. Furthermore, the addition of EPA’s highly skilled credit portfolio management team to the Mount Street platform allows the company to diversify its product offer beyond its existing activities in loan and bond servicing. EPA provides best in class credit surveillance and management products enabling end-to-end portfolio management, from modelling and valuation of single positions to overall portfolio management, restructuring and exit strategies.

Ravi Joseph, CEO and co-founder, commented “For the Mount Street brand, this transaction reaffirms our pre-eminent credentials as the counterparty of choice for banks and state entities considering strategic transactions of this nature. For the leadership of Mount Street, who have extensive prior experience in credit, asset finance, and structured finance, this expansion is a natural progression in the evolution of our firm”.

Paul Lloyd, Managing Partner and co-founder, said “EPA has a talented team and this transaction represents the next step in the growth of their portfolio management platform. Working together with Mount Street, EPA will offer a broad menu of services to the credit and asset finance markets in Europe”.