Friends First puts finance business up for sale

Investment group Friends First says it will sell its finance business Friends First finance, in a bid to divest of non-core activities.

The deal, for sale by tender, is expected to take four to six months to complete and all staff are set to transfer with the sale.

A spokesman for Friends First told breakingnews.ie: "Our parent company Eureko, have decided to focus on its core activities of insurance and asset management across Europe."

He added that "all proceeds from the sale of the Finance arm will be re-invested back into the business."

Friends First Finance was established in 1997 and is involved in asset finance, retail consumer lending and car finance.

The company currently has a loan book of over €350m.