The history

In August, the Gardant Group, the new leading operator in Italy in the sector of impaired and illiquid loans, was born.

The Gardant Group was born from the reorganisation of the Credito Fondiario Banking Group, which gave birth to two independent entities: the Gardant Group and a challenger bank that kept the name of Credito Fondiario.

During the year, Credito Fondiario exceeded EUR 1 billion in cumulative investments (purchase price) in the Italian impaired and illiquid loans sector, positioning itself as one of the largest investors in this market.

Credito Fondiario successfully concludes two long-term partnership agreements in the special servicing sector with two leading Italian banks, Banca Carige S.p.A. (as of December 2017) and Banco BPM S.p.A. (as of December 2018). As part of the agreement with Banco BPM, the joint venture Gardant Liberty Servicing S.p.A. was established.

At the end of 2013 Credito Fondiario (then called FonspaBank) is acquired by Tages Holding and a group of Italian entrepreneurs, with the aim of transforming it into a reference operator in the nascent secondary credit market in Italy, operating both as servicer and investor.

The bank changed its mission, joining a US international group, specialising first (in 2000) in securitisation servicing and then (since 2006) in retail mortgage lending, under the name Credito Fondiario — FonspaBank.

Following the banking reform, the bank extended its operations to medium/long-term industrial loans, changing its name to Credito Fondiario e Industriale — Fonspa — Istituto per i Finanziamenti a Medio Lungo Termine S.p.A.

The bank’s shares were listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, where they remained until they were delisted in 2001 following a change in ownership.

The bank became part of the IRI (Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale, “Institute for Industrial Reconstruction”) galaxy, with the transfer of control to Banco di Roma, Comit and Credit (1960). In 1965 it took the name Credito Fondiario S.p.A. The bank financed itself by means of mortgage bonds.

After the Second World War, the bank expanded its activities with the possibility of financing public works and granting industrial land loans, extending its operations to almost the entire Italian territory.

The bank was founded in Cagliari on 28 April 1898 as Credito Fondiario Sardo S.A., specialising in the provision of mortgages in Sardinia and Rome.