Coface increases Scandinavian factoring presence

Credit insurer Coface, a subsidiary of French bank Natixis, has announced that it has purchased a majority stake in Midt Factoring, a leading Danish provider of factoring services including receivables management, credit risk protection and invoice financing.

Coface now holds 75% of the capital of the company after acquiring a 10% stake in November 2007. The acquisition reinforces its factoring presence in the Nordic region, a market valued at more than DKK 400 billion € 53bn as measured by factored invoices volume.

Coface has had a direct presence in Denmark through credit insurance and information since 2002. Midt Factoring, which will be consolidated into a single organisation offering three lines of credit management, generated a profit of over DKK 20mn ( € 2.7m) in 2007, including DKK 13.8bn ( € 1.8bn) of factored invoices volume.