WL Ross & Co chief executive Wilbur Ross said his investor group remains in the bidding for the EBS, even as it is in talks with the Government about new capital targets for the country’s fifth-largest lender.

A SHORTLIST of bidders to buy the EBS Building Society is expected to be announced by the Government within a few days.

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.

HOMEOWNERS could see thousands slashed off their mortgages if a bid for EBS from a US billionaire is successful.

JC FLOWERS & Co and three other bidders for Ireland’s EBS Building Society may buy and merge several lenders to create a new competitor to the country’s biggest banks, two people familiar with the situation said.

IRISH Life & Permanent (IL&P) and US private equity group JC Flowers are now being seen as the probable last two players in the chase to acquire the EBS Building Society.

SPANISH bank Banco Santander – Europe’s biggest – is the front runner to buy AIB’s stake in Polish bank Zachodni WBK, in a head-to-head bidding war Poland’s biggest bank PKO BP which could garner €2.5 billion for the troubled Irish bank.

THE sale process surrounding the EBS Building Society is unlikely to be completed until near the end of the year, despite yesterday’s latest deadline for bids from interested parties.

EBS Building Society will receive bids from private equity groups and bancassurer Irish Life & Permanent in the next few days, sources told Reuters.

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.

FIVE preliminary bids for EBS Building Society were lodged before yesterday’s submission deadline, the Irish Examiner understands.

THE battle for control of EBS Building Society has moved up a notch. Irish Life & Permanent has emerged as a potential buyer.

THE European Commission has temporarily approved the Government’s €875 million recapitalisation of the EBS.

EBS Building Society, which is now controlled by the state, could be demutualised with the next 12 months.

EBS Building Society, which is now controlled by the state, could be demutualised with the next 12 months.

THE uncertainty over the future make-up of the Irish banking sector could well carry on for weeks, according to sources, despite feeling that the Government will add pressure this week on the main banks to close consolidation deals.

A DISPUTE over a multi- million euro joint venture agreement to build and operate two electric power plants to provide power at peak times has reached the commercial court.

TWO businessmen who set up an asset management company have sold 30% of the firm for around €15 million.

A new asset management company, Cardinal Asset Management, focusing on alternative asset investment products and services for the institutional market, has been launched by Nick Corcoran and Nigel McDermott.