...+ Sweden-based credit management services provider Intrum Justitia AB (publ) has entered into a strategic partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo to co-manage a significant amount of Intesa's nonperforming loans (NPLs). + Intrum intends to fund the joint venture and portfolio purchase with a net cash investment of about 670 million, and with new non-recourse asset-backed senior notes. The notes are financing a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will purchase a portfolio of NPLs from Intesa. + While leverage will increase in the short term, we believe this transaction represents a good medium-term opportunity for Intrum to establish itself as a leading player in Italy, in line with its pan-European growth strategy. + We are affirming our '##+/B' long- and short-term issuer credit ratings on Intrum, as well as our '##+' issue rating on its senior unsecured notes, with the recovery rating unchanged at '4'. + The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Intrum will improve its post-transaction...
