Intesa, Unicredit reach deal to restructure loans - update

(ANSA) - Rome, April 22 - Italian banks Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit said Tuesday that they have reached a preliminary deal with American private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Coto to unload some of their restructured loans. Italian banks are cleaning up their balance sheets ahead of stress tests on eurozone lenders later this year. A joint statement by the banks said that deal aims to "develop and implement an innovative solution to optimise the performance and maximise the value of a selected corporate loan portfolio under restructuring through proactive management and additional funding at the asset level". It added that restructuring service adviser Alvares and Marsal was involved and that further details would be provided later as talks about the partnership are ongoing. Last month Intesa Sanpaolo posted huge fourth-quarter losses following big write-downs on bad loans. The Financial Times reported that the deal would enable the banks to pool billions of euros of their bad loans into a vehicle that will provide fresh capital for them.