Deadline set for EBS takeover bids

EBS Building Society, the country’s biggest customer-owned lender, set an August 9 deadline for a second round of takeover bids, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

Four companies submitted initial offers as EBS seeks to raise about €785 million to meet capital standards set by the country’s financial regulator. The company may choose a buyer by the end of August, said one person, who declined to comment because the process hasn’t yet been completed.

JC Flowers & Co, the US leveraged buyout firm, Doughty Hanson & Co, a British rival, Irish Life & Permanent Plc and Cardinal Asset Management are the four parties involved in the first round of bidding.