-- Suncorp sells A$1.6 billion of loans to Goldman Sachs
-- Goldman Sachs pays 60 cents in the dollar for the debt
-- Suncorp says sale to generate A$470M-A$490M net loss
(Adds Suncorp CEO remarks in fourth paragraph, analyst comments
in ninth.)
By Ross Kelly
SYDNEY--Australia's Suncorp Group Ltd. (SUN.AU) sold a portion
of loans from its so-called bad bank to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
(GS) for about 960 million Australian dollars (US$909 million),
releasing the company from a portfolio of underperforming assets
that had been weighing on its earnings outlook.
The U.S. investment bank bought A$1.6 billion of loans for an
average 60 cents in the dollar, Suncorp said in a statement
Thursday. It said it expected loans worth a further A$700 million
from its bad bank, which includes some distressed debt, to be
repaid this month and next or else sold individually. The remaining
A$500 million would be transferred into its main bank, the company
added.
Suncorp said the elimination of its entire bad bank portfolio
would force the company, which has banking and general insurance
operations, to incur a net loss of between A$470 million and A$490
million in the second half of its fiscal year ending June--a profit
warning that was widely expected by analysts.
"This is a significant turning point and the non-core portfolio
will no longer divert attention from the real progress being made
across our business," Suncorp's Chief Executive Officer Patrick
Snowball said in the statement. A Sydney-based spokeswoman for
Goldman Sachs declined to comment directly on the deal.
Investors willing to invest in distressed debt can reap big
rewards if the performance of the underlying assets attached to the
loans, such as shopping malls or apartment blocks, improves. Such
investments, however, still carry a large degree of risk and
typically have to be offered, as in this case, at a discount to
attract buyers, often large financial institutions with strong
balance sheets.
Goldman Sachs was widely tipped by analysts as a potential buyer
of Suncorp's assets after one of its funds last year led a group of
investors that bought Suncorp debt linked to a troubled Sydney
shopping mall. Goldman Sachs was also among buyers last year of a
A$1.7 billion book of distressed real-estate loans sold by Lloyds
Banking Group PLC's Australian subsidiary.
Brisbane-based Suncorp set up the non-core bank in 2009 to house
A$17.5 billion of mainly commercial real-estate loans that could no
longer be funded in the wake of the global credit crunch. Last
month, the company predicted the portfolio of non-performing loans
would fall below A$2.7 billion by June, making it easier to
sell.
In the last financial year, Suncorp posted net profit of A$724
million, with earnings weighed down by a A$263 million loss at the
bad bank.
"This is strong execution on substantially resolving a very
long-standing and painful issue," said Andrew Adams, an analyst at
Credit Suisse based in Sydney. Still, Mr. Adams described the sale
as "an expensive exit whichever way you look at it".
As of 0213 GMT, Suncorp shares were down 0.8% in Sydney after
falling as much as 3.3% in early trading. Australia's benchmark
S&P/ASX 200 index was down 1%.
David Rogers in Sydney contributed to this article
Write to Ross Kelly at ross.kelly@wsj.com
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