UniCredit closes $1.2 billion bad loan securitisation deal

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's No.2 bank UniCredit said it had completed the securitisation of 1.1 billion euros ($1.15 billion) in bad loans, hiring doValue to service the transaction.

UniCredit said on Wednesday the deal was its fifth non-performing loan (NPL) securitisation backed by the 'GACS' state guarantee scheme.

The scheme expired on Tuesday and sources have told Reuters the Treasury expects to renew the measures after the summer break, tightening their terms to reduce the chances taxpayers will be left on the hook.

UniCredit said it had accepted a binding offer from an investor that will buy 95% of the mezzanine and junior notes in the latest GACS-backed bad loan securitisation.

The bank will retain a 5% stake.

Having sold the bulk of the notes, UniCredit said it would apply to the European Central Bank to be allowed to remove the 1.1 billion euro bad loan portfolio from its books, an accounting process known as 'de-recognition'.

In a separate statement, doValue said that it already had under management part of the loan portfolio securitised by UniCredit, and would add around 500 million euros to its loans under management thanks to the servicing role on the transaction.

DoValue, whose main investor is Japan's SoftBank Group, has a long-term loan collection agreement with UniCredit but faces competition from rival Prelios, which has also secured loan managing contracts with UniCredit recently.

($1 = 0.9591 euros)

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni, editing by Valentina Za)