Distressed Debt Platform IlliquidX Eyes Increasing Opportunities in Spain with Appointment of Ignacio Muñoz-Alonso to its Advisory Board

LONDON, August 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

IlliquidX, the distressed debt pricing and trading platform, has appointed Ignacio Muñoz-Alonso to its senior advisory board. The appointment comes as IlliquidX expand their business of bringing buyers and sellers together in the fast-growing market of illiquid assets in Spain, there being the view held by investors that Spain's financial situation is set to improve and for certain distressed debt investments to have significant recovery potential.

Ignacio Muñoz-Alonso, who is CEO Addax Capital, joins the IlliquidX Advisory Board with very extensive investment banking experience having been, prior to Addax, Head of Corporate and Investment Banking, EMEA, at BBVA.  He previously held senior positions at Rothschild and Lehman Brothers.

Celestino Amore, CEO and co-founder of IlliquidX said:

"We believe the Spanish distressed debt market has opened an unusual window of opportunity where much improved investor sentiment is meeting the absolute requirement for local banks to offload large portions of distressed debt at deeply discounted prices which carry significant attractions for medium-term opportunistic investors who are long of cash. Ignacio's 22 year investment banking experience and deep knowledge of the Spanish markets will be invaluable as we increase our activity in the Spanish markets. Ignacio, with his deep understanding of the Spanish markets and his extensive network of contacts in Spain, will help us develop a gateway into the Spanish market for distressed assets and allow us to provide an indispensable exchange platform between buyers and sellers. By virtue of our involvement at IlliquidX we anticipate the market for Spanish distressed assets becoming more liquid."

In a recent evaluation of the Spanish banking sector, IlliquidX points to the stress-test studies by consultancies Oliver Wyman and Roland Burger, which found that estimated Spanish banking capital needs were significantly lower than the credit backdrop proposed by the Spanish authorities and the Eurogroup. The studies published estimated a bail-out requirement between of a minimum €51bn and a maximum of €62bn in contrast to the €100bn negotiated. The authors of these studies opine that, if their calculations are accurate, most potential bank losses going forward could be mitigated by profits, provisions and capital buffers provided by the bail-out.

Moreover, the proposed bail-out of Spain's banking system allows the country to offload the burden of bank recapitalization onto the Eurozone, inducing an increase in bank credit ratings and ultimately making sovereign debt more appealing to private investors. This, in turn, has allowed Spanish debt to be slightly less than 6% of total assets, a figure that should not give cause for great concern, given this was the same debt/assets ratio present in the Spanish market 10 years ago.

At the moment, the largest Spanish banks are in the process of selling their distressed assets. According to BBVA Chairman and CEO Francisco Gonzalez, "Any Euros we can get [for our distressed assets] are profit. We are not in a hurry and we are waiting for bids." IlliquidX confirms that bids for such distressed assets were very low one year ago, but that prices are continuing to increase as a result of a less pessimistic outlook on the stability of the Spanish banking system.