Last remnants of what was once the world’s largest ship financier dismantled
Another important chapter in the history of Hamburg shipping has come to a close with the successful wind-down of a portfolio of €4.7bn of non-performing shipping loans from what was HSH Nordbank.
HSH Nordbank was once the largest lender in world ship finance, but became unstuck – like many in Hamburg’s shipping community – in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis.
In 2018, the state-run bank was sold to a consortium of private equity companies and rebranded as Hamburg Commercial Bank.
Selling off the shipping loans proved to be an extensive process taking seven years in total.
“It was an exciting journey and I would like to thank everybody who kept faith in us and who supported us during these years,” commented Ulrike Helfer, via LinkedIn, someone who was heavily involved in the offloading of all the loans on behalf of the local governments of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg.
