Three international bidders eye Lloyds €2bn property portfolio

Three international investor groups are on the final shortlist to acquire a €2 billion buy-to-let portfolio put on the market by Lloyds, the British bank. The portfolio includes thousands of buy-to-let properties alongside various smaller commercial properties. Half the loans are secured on assets in Dublin with the remainder spread nationwide. The three bidders for the loans are: Oaktree Capital Management; investment bank Goldman Sachs working with CarVal; and Kildare Partners.

Called Project Parasol, a winner for the loan portfolio, which is mainly non-performing, is due to be selected on November 21st. All three bidders are already active in the Irish market.

Oaktree has formed a joint venture with the National Asset Management Agency and construction firm the Bennett Group to develop properties in the south docks.

Goldman last week acquired a loan portfolio with a face value of €200 million secured on the Radisson Blu Hotel at Golden Lane and the Radisson Blu Hotel at Dublin Airport. CarVal succeeded, with Goldman, in acquiring various loans from the liquidators of Anglo Irish Bank.

Kildare bought two of the biggest shopping centres in the North for €170 million during the summer. It is also working with Cork developer Michael O’Flynn on various projects.

Last week Lloyds sold a €1.1 billion portfolio of non-performing Irish residential mortgages to US private equity firm Lone Star. This portfolio had 4,000 loans and was the latest acquisition by the American fund. Last year, Lloyds agreed to sell a portfolio of stressed Irish mortgages for €322 million to Apollo Global Management.

The loans being put on the block were originally taken out by customers of Bank of Scotland Ireland during the boom before it became a unit of Lloyds. The bank is engaged in an aggressive sell-off of non-core asset proposals.