Eastdil to sell Anglo's US loan book

ANGLO IRISH Bank has appointed the New York-based property broker and investment bank, Eastdil Secured, to sell the State-owned bank’s US loan book of $10.5 billion (€7.2 billion).

Eastdil, which is owned by US bank Wells Fargo, beat rival Texas-based property specialists Holliday Fenoglio Fowler to land the contract to sell the United States’ loans.

Both firms were hired by Anglo late last year to carry out a loan-by-loan analysis of the book.

A spokesman for Anglo confirmed the appointment of Eastdil to advise on a possible sale of the US loan portfolio but declined to comment further. Among the deals financed by Anglo are the Apthorp apartment block and the Ralph Lauren store on Madison Avenue in New York, and the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Boston.

Anglo delayed a sale of the US loan book last year to avoid a fire-sale price, but improved conditions in the property market on the US east coast has prompted a re-think on a sale.

Anglo’s loans grew from €836 million in 2002 to €9.3 billion in 2007, increasing at the fastest rate of any of the bank’s portfolios from 2005 to 2007, the years marking the peak of the boom.

The US office was established by David Drumm in 1999 in Boston before he went on to become chief executive of the bank in January 2005. The bank later opened offices in New York and Chicago. Irish banks are reducing foreign portfolios to shrink balance sheets of €72 billion in assets to wean themselves off central bank support and return to self-sufficiency.