[7][8] According to ACRI, the foundations had €40 billion shareholders' equity,[9] with most of them no longer owning their banks in majority or entirely sold.
[10] On 29 April 2016 Quaestio announced that the fund had collected €4.249 billion from 67 investors including Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
The five largest banking groups (by total assets), UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS), UBI Banca and Banco Popolare, had €225 billion of NPLs (€135 billion were bad loans among the NPLs) in gross book value in that period.
[12] For example, Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna's gross NPLs to total loan ratio was 23.28% or €11.395 billion in size.
[12] At the same time in order to boost the securitization of bad loans, the Italian government had guaranteed the senior tranche of the securitizated NPLs.
(Garanzia sulla Cartolarizzazione delle Sofferenze),[20][21] which in line with the strict rule of state aid by the European Union, as junior tranche was excluding from the guarantee scheme.
In December 2015 the European Commission ruled that the bail-out of Banca Tercas by the Fondo Interbancario di Tutela dei Depositi (FITD in short; mandatory deposit guarantee fund) was state aid.
Atlante was aimed at a size of €4-6 billion with a promise that the investment was profitable in order to attract investors in market condition.
[39] Atlante subscribed the entire capital increase of BPVi (for €1.5 billion) after Borsa Italiana rejecting the listing of the bank.
The fund was managed by Quaestio Capital Management SGR S.p.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quaestio Holding S.A., which was owned by Fondazione Cariplo (37.65%), Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì (6.75%), Cassa Italiana di Previdenza e Assistenza dei Geometri liberi professionisti [it] (18%), Locke S.r.l.
[58] On 29 July 2016 Atlante signed a memorandum of understanding to buy the mezzanine notes of the securitized bad loan portfolio of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
The deal was finalized in 2018, with Atlante II was the actual buyer, for 95% mezzanine notes for a purchase price of €805 million.