Our investment structure in the Nordics is getting attention!

Helix Ice was relaunched in January 2021 after recognizing a need for the Nordic NPL – Non-performing Loan market, to enable new types of business solutions and investment collaborations.

And our first years have been a success story in which we have connected our investors and the sellers of NPL portfolios around the Nordic region in deals worth + 160 MEUR. 

We have administrated the launch of four different SPV:s and have during 2022 noticed a much bigger attention regarding the Nordic NPL Market from different international investors. 

We keep a share of about 80-85% of our deals value in the Bank & Finance segment and 15-20% in the Telecom segment. Looking at the deal pipeline for 2023 and the dialogues that are taking place right now, we believe that the Bank & Finance segment in the Nordic region can have some very interesting opportunities for investors as a lot of banks are looking to sell of their NPL portfolios in One Offs or Forward Flows and now also with much lower prices on the portfolios compared to recent years.

We see challenges when it comes to the collection rates in a near future due to the macroeconomic situation but are confident to collect in line with our long-term forecasts and together with our Nordic service partners we look in to different type of activities to keep the contact with the debtors.

Feel free to contact us for a dialogue regarding the NPL market in the Nordic region.

Nordic Market Overview, half year report H2 2022

2022-11-24

Market overview:

We continue to share knowledge regarding the Nordic NPL market and are glad to see that our insights are appreciated among both investors and sellers.

It has continued to be an interesting market to make business in as we have sellers looking for better prices than available on their NPL portfolios but at the moment the purchaser side is the one in a better position. This as a lot of Bank & Finance volumes are out on the market and the sellers don’t really get the price levels they expect or need. Perfect time to invest!

Since the last Market Overview, our summer edition, we have had several interesting dialogues with both new investors and service companies looking into the Nordic market and curious to know more about the current market conditions and potential deals to be made. We are happy to assist in such dialogues and have had success so far in the investment structures that launched.

When it comes to collection on the purchased debts in the Nordics, we noticed that both voluntary payments and legal collection have challenges due to the fact that the debtors have smaller margins as everyone else due to the increasing inflation rate. But we also see really good effects from extra activities and campaigns and on a long-term perspective we are still comfortable with the collection forecasts. 

Please feel free to contact us for more dialogues and opportunities around the Nordic NPL market.

/COO, Johan Gustafsson

Market effects from Russia invading Ukraine

We have all followed the horrible actions in Ukraine the past two plus months and hope it will come to an end soon. The invasion has affected us in different ways, some more than other of course with millions of people fleeing their home country not knowing where they’ll end up or for how long and others forced to defend their country with their own lives at stake.

Our lives here in the Nordics however have run its usual course and the NPL market is still active in the Nordics, just as before. Sweden and Finland are discussing the possibility of becoming NATO members with Finland planning to have a public vote.

Macro trends in Europe since the invasion Feb 24

The Russian MOEX index collapsed the days leading up to the invasion and was down 44% between the 16 and 24 Feb (this after already have been on a decline since October), it has since recovered a bit and is now (4 May) “only” down by 5% since Feb 16.

The Nordic indexes has changed with between -3,2 and +9,6 percent since the invasion (24 Feb to 4 May) with Sweden (OMXS30) declining the most and Denmark (OMXC20) gaining the most. Sweden and Finland (OMXH25) both declined over 8% the days leading up to the invasion (16 – 24 Feb) and then continuing down the following two weeks with Finland dipping 16% 16 Feb – 8 Mar and Sweden almost 13%.

We can also see similar effects in the bigger markets in Europe where UK (FTSE100) and Germany (DAX) both declining between 5 and 8 percent leading up to the invasion and Germany continuing down the weeks after with a total decline of 16,5% (16 Feb – 8 Mar). Both markets have recovered fairly well with UK at +4% and Germany at -1,8% since the invasion (24 Feb – 4 May).

A successful first year and now we look forward to an interesting 2022!

And as a great start of 2022 we can proudly present yet another great collaboration as we continue to build bridges between investors and sellers: Helix Ice LinkedIn news – MedMera Bank

Helix Ice was relaunched in January 2021 after recognizing a need for the Nordic NPL – Non-performing Loan market, to enable new types of business solutions and investment collaborations.

And our first year have been a success story in which we have connected our investors and the sellers of NPL portfolios around the Nordic region in deals worth + 100 MEUR.

We have had about 80% of our deals value in the Bank & Finance segment and 20% in the Telecom segment. Looking at the deal pipeline for 2022 and the dialogues that are taking place right now, we believe that the Bank & Finance segment in the Nordic region can have very interesting opportunities for investors as a lot of banks are looking to sell of their NPL portfolios either in One Offs or Forward Flows.

We celebrate the good start and are now very much focused to continue to connect investors and NPL sellers. NPL portfolios in the Nordics – Our expertise!

Feel free to contact us for a dialogue regarding the NPL market in the Nordic region.

Nordic Market Overview, H2 2021

Market overview:

In 2020, we had significantly lower prices for Forward Flows than before and a maximum of 6-12 months agreement compared to the previous standard which was 12-24 and up to 36 months. Large number of transactions available in the Nordic market for both OO and FF and especially within Bank & Finance. Requests for longer contracts are again up on the table with up to 24 months while the buying side tries to reduce this more to 12 + 12 months arrangement and instead of having the opportunity to adjust the price after 12 months.

The price level of unsecured loans in the segment 300 00 – 500 000 SEK has remained low while we see that there is a lot of competition now for the lower amounts, which once again leads to higher prices in that segment. At the moment, there are too many unsecured loan providers on the market and those with slightly more generous credit terms will have trouble selling off their NPL portfolios to the price levels that they calculated with.

Large increase in Sweden in the number of applications for debt restructuring but at the same time also an increased amount of rejections as many applicants have not made sufficient attempts to sort out their finances first. KFM has informed about this now after the summer. In Finland, tax refunds have been at record levels, which also had a positive impact on  return of investments during August and September. Norway has had a steady collection and flow of cases for most of the Corona and although there are some concerns in that market that there will be backlogs around consumers’ debt picture, the prospects are good there. In Denmark, there have been a lot of large portfolio deals within Bank & Finance during the summer and the start of the autumn. A tightening within the credit terms for e-commerce has resulted in several Nordic e-retailers choosing to leave Denmark now and leaving OO-portfolios available on attractive levels.

Increased competition in the Nordic region regarding the purchase of NPL portfolios as several of NPL buyers have been reloaded with funds to invest either through new bonds or through collaborations with major institutional investors. Most players also believe that there will be consolidation in the debt collection and NPL market within the next few years. Exciting times ahead!

Please feel free to contact us for more dialogues and opportunities around the Nordic NPL market.

/COO, Johan Gustafsson

Recipe of the month – October

Brouwers viltgryta

Alla ingredienser är “höftade” under tiden så anpassa efter eget tycke
Val av viltkött går bra att variera efter tillgång, jag valde att kombinera älgbiff med griskind för att få mycket smak av älgen och kombinera med fettet från griskinden

Ingredienser gryta:
500g älgbiff (utan kappa)
70g griskind
100g smör
5dl vatten
1dl tomatpuré
1tsk dijonsenap
10cl buljong (kalv)
5cl umamifond
2,5dl bayersk öl (falcon 2,8%)
kryddblandning av rosmarin (20%), rosepeppar (25%), torkade enbär (25%), muskotnöt (15%) och svartpeppar (15%)
3 lagerblad
3 små morötter
1 gul lök
1 svenskt äpple
2 schalottenlökar
50g torkade trattkantareller
1tsk majsstärkelse

Ingredienser puré:
10 mandelpotatisar
1 palsternacka
1,5dl grädde
svartpeppar
salt
tryffelolja

Steg 1:
Putsa älgbiffen och ta bort kappan, skiva upp i grytbitar
Putsa och tärna griskinden
Bryn älgbiff i ca 50g smör (spar resten till steg 3)
Ta ur älgbiffen och bryn griskinden

Lägg tillbaka älgbiffen och tillsätt vatten, tomatpuré, senap, buljong och umamifond
Låt puttra i ca 1 timme

Steg 2:
Hacka den gula löken och morötterna, tärna samt skala äpplet
Mortla kryddblandningen
Tillsätt i grytan tillsammans med ölet och lagerbladen
Låt puttra i ca 30 min
Smaka av och justera kryddning vid behov

Steg 3:
Hacka schalottenlök
blötlägg svampen så de sväller
Blanda majsstärkelse med kvarvarande smör
Tillsätt ingredienserna till grytan och låt puttra i ca 30 min till
Smaka av och justera kryddning vid behov

Steg 4:
Skala och skär potatis samt palsternacka i bitar, skär palsternacka i något mindre bitar än potatis
koka med en nypa salt i ca 15 min tills allt är mjukt
Tillsätt grädde och mosa
Smaka av med olja, salt och peppar

Steg 5:
Servera tillsammans med lättare sallad och mörk öl eller rödvin efter smak
OBS: Grytan gör sig allra bäst dagen efter då smakerna har lagt sig och grytan stått till sig i kylskåp över natten, blir perfekt lunch vid hemmajobb

***

English version (via Google translate) one page 2.

No more amortization exception in Sweden as a result of covid effects

After almost one and a half year of financial relief in form of exception from mortgages amortization for people with high loan-to-value and debt-to-income ratios Finansinspektionen (FI) has now decided to end this on August 31.

This shows in one way that the Swedish people haven’t been as financially damaged by the effects from covid-19 as first feared, but FI is also worried that a continuation of this exception would lead to increased mortgages and housing prices.

More information in the link below.
English: https://www.fi.se/en/published/press-releases/2021/mortgages-must-be-amortised-again/
Swedish: https://www.fi.se/sv/publicerat/pressmeddelanden/2021/bolan-ska-amorteras-igen/