(Bloomberg) -- ION Group completed the acquisition of Italian asset manager Prelios SpA for €1.35 billion ($1.5 billion), following months of back-and-forth with Italian authorities on the deal.
The acquisition, done through a unit called X3 Group, was financed by a group of banks led by UniCredit SpA, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and BNP Paribas SA, ION said in a statement Friday. The announcement confirmed an earlier Bloomberg report.
“The deal is part of a broader strategy to improve asset management and efficient decision-making processes through the use of data,” Prelios Chairman Fabrizio Palenzona said in the statement. “The credit servicing industry in Italy is going through a consolidation phase driven by the need to improve operational efficiency,” he said.
The closing is a win for London-based ION, a group controlled by Italian businessman Andrea Pignataro, which first bid for the company specialized in bad loans in 2023. Both Giorgia Meloni’s government and the Bank of Italy cleared the deal in recent weeks, allowing it to go ahead in spite of concerns over ION’s high debt levels, Bloomberg previously reported.
UBS Group AG acted as financial adviser for ION, BNP Paribas and Mediobanca SpA advised X3, while Lazard advised Prelios.
Established in 1990, Prelios has more than €40 billion of assets under management across non-performing loans, unlikely-to-pay exposures and real estate funds.
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