IL&P ‘hires banks for rights issue’

IRISH Life & Permanent, the country’s biggest life assurer and mortgage lender, is in talks to hire four banks, including Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, to underwrite a rights offering, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

The lender is also in talks with Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Davy to manage the share sale, which would depend on the bank succeeding in its bid to merge a unit with EBS Building Society, the mortgage lender being sold by the Government, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private.

Irish Life is seeking to separate Permanent TSB, its banking unit, and combine the division with EBS. To separate the unit Irish Life needs to provide Permanent with about €925 million of additional capital. Irish Life is pressing the Government to provide EBS with a €785m capital injection before the merger, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter.