Reuters wrote that in the interest of lessening its debt, Belgium sold its structured credit portfolio invested in Royal Park Investments. Last Saturday, the Belgian finance ministry disclosed that private equity firm Lone Star and Credit Suisse bought the structured credit portfolio for Royal Park Investments.
According to an official statement, Royal Park Investments sold its asset portfolio through a group sale to Lone Star and Credit Suisse for Eur6.7 billion or US$8.73 billion.
This indicates that Belgium and Ageas, the insurance company that arose from the disbanding of Fortis at the peak of the financial crisis, will both receive approximately Eur1 billion. Ageas and the Belgian state both have an equity capital of Eur750 million in Royal Park Investments, while BNP Paribas, a French bank owns Eur200 million.
Initially, Belgium made Eur1.4 billion in savings to resolve the financial problems of the firm and despite that it still needed to earn an additional Eur1 billion from sales of its assets. Finance Minister Koen Geens disclosed that Belgium needed a financial infusion of approximately Eur 1billion or US$1.30 billion to guarantee that the country's Gross Domestic Product will not slump.
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