Erste Bank Ag sold Ukrainian loans with a face value of about 300 million euros ($319 million), a legacy of its aborted presence in the country, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The portfolio included corporate and real-estate debt, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the transaction is private. They didn’t say who bought the loans or what the price was.
Erste pulled out of Ukraine in 2013, selling an unprofitable local lender that it had bought just six years earlier.
The nation has since plunged into economic and political turmoil following an uprising by pro-Russian forces in 2014.
An official at Vienna-based Erste declined to comment on the loan sale. The bank has cleaned up its balance sheet in recent years, including selling 1.6 billion euros of bad debt last year.
The Austrian lender, which operates in six other eastern European countries, said 2016 was its “peak” year for sales of non-performing loans.
Cohen & co. advised Erste on the Ukrainian loan deal, with assistance from Exito Partners, the people said. Both advisors declined to comment on the sale.