Permanent TSB to sell €2.6bn in loans

Permanent TSB Group Holdings Plc, the bailed-out Irish lender, has hired Morgan Stanley to sell its commercial real estate and subprime residential mortgage loan books, with a combined face value of about €2.6bn.

“Morgan Stanley has been appointed to sell the two portfolios,” said Ray Gordon, a bank spokesman. The loans are mainly non-performing and are valued at a discount on Dublin-based PTSB’s balance sheet after bad-debt provisions.

PTSB’s chief executive, Jeremy Masding, is slimming down Ireland’s once largest mortgage lender to show European antitrust authorities it is viable after a €4bn state rescue.