Cairn Homes and Lone Star among bidders for Project Clear loans

Listed housebuilder Cairn Homes and Lone Star have both submitted indicative offers for a portfolio of Royal Bank of Scotland loans backed by land earmarked for houses in Dublin, according to sources.

Centerbridge Partners was also among bidders for the package of loans known as Project Clear, according to another source, who said the deadline for bids was Wednesday.

Project Clear is comprised of loans secured against 1,850 acres of zoned land, with room for 20,000 houses and apartments, according to one source. It is reportedly worth as much as €500 million.

The land represents 17 per cent of all the space zoned for residential use in Dublin. Officials for Ulster Bank, Lone Star, Cairn and Centerbridge declined to comment.

RBS injected £15.3 billion (€21.3 billion) into Ulster Bank between 2008 and 2013 and moved billions of euros of risky property assets from the unit's balance sheet into a company bad bank.

Demand for land in Ireland is rising again in tandem with home prices, as the economy recovers from one of the worst recessions in Western Europe.

Bloomberg