The sale of EBS Building Society to a consortium of investors led by Cardinal Capital Group will not go ahead, it was confirmed today.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) said the sale process had been terminated after the Minister for Finance decided the bid "was not sufficiently commercially attractive to the State".

Cardinal's bid was backed by US private equity group Carlyle and New York-based billionaire Wilbur Ross.

The NTMA said the proposal had been evaluated "at length" and it was decided not to proceed with it.

The private equity consortium was chosen as the preferred bidder for the State-owned building society in February, ahead of Irish Life and Permanent.

However, the final decision on the sale of the building society was to be taken by the Government

The Government has injected €875 million in EBS, taking control of the building society through special investment shares.