Buyers Clamor for European Distressed Debt Nobody Wanted
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They were the bank assets nobody would touch during Europe’s financial crisis. Late payments on credit cards, underwater mortgages and failed loans to small businesses. Now everybody wants them.
The number of funds in the region’s distressed debt market doubled to 200 in the past two years as money managers seek to boost returns in a world of record-low interest rates, according to KPMG LLP. Amid the increasingly crowded playing field, prices jumped more than 10 percent since January, HSBC Holdings Plc data show.