Bank of Ireland may sell loan unit to Wells Fargo
The bank hired Hawkpoint Partners in April to advise on the sale of London-based Burdale, which has about €800 million of loans in Britain and the US.
The bank is in exclusive talks with Wells Fargo, and a deal may be completed by the year-end, said the people, who declined to be identified, because the talks haven’t been completed.
The purchase would be Wells Fargo’s third swoop this year on assets of Irish banks, which are being forced by regulators to shrink their loan books to lower their reliance on central bank funding.
Wells Fargo last month bought €1.13 billion of US commercial real-estate loans from Bank of Ireland.
It agreed earlier this month to buy €3.3bn of US loans from Irish Bank Resolution Corp, the former Anglo Irish Bank.
Bank of Ireland spokeswoman Anne Mathews said the bank is in “exclusive talks with one party” on the sale. She declined to comment further. Richele Messick, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, said the bank doesn’t comment on acquisition talks.
Burdale, whose customers include Tate Motors Ltd’s Jaguar Land Rover, was acquired by Bank of Ireland in 2004 from Wachovia for €71 million. Wells Fargo in turn took over Wachovia in 2008.
Bank of Ireland, alone among Ireland’s six largest lenders in avoiding majority state ownership over the past three years, has sold about €5bn of loans this year, at an average discount of 9% to face value.
It plans to sell a total of €10bn and “run down” a further €20bn of loans through 2013, chief executive Richie Boucher said in April.
&Matthew Elderfield, deputy governor of the Central Bank, said this week the banks face a challenge in selling off more assets as other European lenders make disposals.
