Arrow Global’s £14.3m Italian job
MANCHESTER-based purchaser and manager of debt Arrow Global is set to enter the Italian market after agreeing terms to buy Zenith Service SpA for £14.3m.
The deal to buy the servicing business in the Italian structured finance market is subject to regulatory approval by the Bank of Italy.
Arrow Global says the purchase gives it immediate scale and presence in one of Europe’s largest debt markets.
Zenith is also a leading servicer of salary assignment loans (cessione del quinto or CQS), managing about €1.9bn of CQS assets. At June 2016, the estimated stock of the securitized market for CQS in Italy amounted to more than €3.2bn.
The acquisition will further expand Arrow’s European footprint, building on the its top three market positions in the UK, Portugal and Benelux and will reinforce its position as a major European debt purchase and management business.
Arrow Global chief executive Tom Drury said: “Today’s agreed acquisition of Zenith marks our strategic entry into Italy.
“Italy is one of Europe’s largest and fastest growing potential markets for servicing and acquiring non-performing loans and other financial services assets.
“Zenith is our first step in creating a strong market proposition in Italy, where Arrow and Zenith already share some common clients.
“Zenith provides a low risk, robust platform and important servicing capabilities. Clients value Arrow’s breadth of expertise, data capability, reach and scale and Zenith meets all of these criteria.
“Additionally the acquisition affords us an excellent vantage point from which to consider asset servicing growth in line with our targeted returns.”
Giuseppe R Amato, founder and chief executive of Zenith, said: “We are delighted to be joining Arrow. It is an exciting time for the business as it continues to expand and develop its European strategy. We have built a strong business which complements well Arrow’s existing expertise.
“We share the same customer-centric values and service quality and I look forward to working with Arrow’s management team to further strengthen and grow our business in Italy.”
