Underperforming loans in the shipping sector have skyrocketed since 2008, as shipping operators have been challenged by overcapacity and untimely investments in bigger container vessels in the wake of the financial crisis. This has left banks in the US$400bn market with the challenge of offloading a string of non-performing loans. Pillarstone's business model regarding non-performing loans entails taking control of troubled firms and turning them around with new capital from KKR. The novelty is in the management of the bank loans, with the goal of attaining repayment and giving banks part of any extra profits. The firm's business model involves, as one Pillarstone representative tells SCI, "governance and management of the loans, without taking them off the banks' books". Oliver Fochler, managing partner and ceo of Stone Mountain Capital, echoes a similar view when he states that private equity firms are "managing and restructuring" such capital-intensive assets. He adds that there is nothing surprising here, given the "tendency of private equity firms - within their newly founded debt units - to move towards high-yielding NPLs and private debt, due to yield compression." Interview with Oliver Fochler was covered on 10th November 2016 in Structured Credit Investor (SCI) under 'KKR targets shipping loans' (website requires registration).
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