Another name for the rollcall of subprime victims. Mid-cap investment bank NIBC of the Netherlands on Thursday released preliminary interim results on the back of losses related to US subprime exposure.

NIBC, which is controlled by an investment consortium led by Christopher Flowers, the former Goldman Sachs banker, said that first half profit would fall to €3m, from about €189m last year, on the back of losses of at least €137m this year.

Instability in the US credit markets had led to “a non-recurring mark-to-market loss” of €137m in the first half, with further losses expected on the US ABS book, it said.

Michael Enthoven, chairman, said that all the bank’s other activities were showing healthy growth, with profit after tax but before one-off items of €141m. He added that only a part of the US book was subprime related:

The exposure of our US subprime related portfolio as at June 30 was €391 million, of which 73% is AAA-rated, 21% AA-rated and 6% other ratings. Of the bonds in our sub prime related portfolio 28% is on the watchlist of the rating agencies and 1% of these bonds has been downgraded since 1 July. Approximately two-third of the non-recurring loss relates to the sub prime related portfolio.

NIBC was bought by the Flowers-led consortium, which includes ABN Amro, Santander, Delta Lloyds and Japan’s Shinshei bank, for €2.1bn in August 2005. It earlier this year delayed plans for a flotation in Amsterdam blaming market volatility triggererd by subprime woes in the US.

This entry was posted by Helen Thomas on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 9:53 and is filed under Uncategorised. Tagged with christopher flowers, nibc. Edit this entry.