MINISTER FOR Finance Michael Noonan said yesterday he would prefer the life business of Irish Life & Permanent to be sold through a trade sale rather than through a stock market flotation.

The company was ordered to raise €4 billion by the Central Bank following stress tests last March. Some €1.5 billion of this target is expected to be raised through the sale of Irish Life.

“We are within weeks of being able to announce that we are going to the market to sell the insurance side,” Mr Noonan told the Financial Services Ireland annual lunch. “In the first instance we hope to do it by a trade sale. If that does not work there are obviously other options.”

The Government secured a court order earlier this month directing the company to make preparations to ensure the sale of Irish Life by the end of October.

Mr Noonan said that he was hopeful that “as soon as this week or next” an information memorandum would be distributed to parties who have indicated an interest in buying the business.

The Irish Timesreported earlier this month that the company had been received expressions of interest in Irish Life from possible trade buyers in North America.

Mr Noonan said the Government had shaved €4 billion off the additional €24 billion capital bill set for the banks last March from burden-sharing with junior bondholders. He hoped that such measures, along with a better-than-expected economic performance, would differentiate Ireland from Greece in investors’ minds.

“We are thinking of printing T-shirts in the Department of Finance – they won’t be given out free, they will be for sale of course – saying ‘Ireland is not Greece’... across the front and back of them,” said Mr Noonan.

He added that he hoped Anglo would complete the sale of the bank’s $10.1 billion (€7 billion) in loans in the US soon.