Banca Carige is hiving off €450m ($526m) of distressed debt in a deal that enables Gianluigi Aponte’s Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) to become a shareholder of container/ro-ro (conro) operator Ignazio Messina & Co.
The Italian bank is sharply reducing its €1.4bn portfolio through a restructuring agreement involving loans which Messina used to order eight conro newbuildings.
Several private equity funds have been touted as potential buyers of the debt at up to half of the total loan value.
