IRISH Life & Permanent is still seen as the lead contender to buy EBS despite strong interest by three international consortia.

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.

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.

IT looks increasingly likely that a resolution of the banking crisis will drag on into the new year.

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.

The London market closed above the 6000 mark for only the second time in two months today as banking stocks rose amid talk of an official bid to free up the credit crunch.

Hopes of relief for the struggling banking sector put the London market on the front foot today.

Blue-chip big guns Tesco and AstraZeneca led a revival today as the London market broke a five-day losing streak.

The FTSE 100 Index slipped more than 1% today in a fifth straight session of losses for London’s leading shares.

Private equity firm JC Flowers today threatened to walk away from its £3.5bn (€4.3bn) takeover approach for Friends Provident unless the board of the life and pensions firm opens talks by the end of the week.

Bank shares were sharply higher in the UK today amid hopes a new wave of credit-related writedowns could signal the sector is over the worst of its recent crisis.

Life insurer Friends Provident is today understood to be holding emergency boardroom talks after US private equity firm JC Flowers made a revised £3.5bn (€4.4bn) takeover approach.

A stock market bloodbath saw the FTSE 100 Index nosedive by 5.5% today as fears of a US recession sparked a global sell-off.

The FTSE 100 Index plunged more than 3% today as investors fretted about a possible recession in the US.

Northern Rock suitor JC Flowers has walked away from the bidding battle to secure a rescue plan for the troubled mortgage bank, it emerged today.

The battle for crisis-hit British bank Northern Rock looks set to intensify this week as a number of suitors re-table bids to rival the one put forward by Virgin, it was reported today.

At least two firm bids for beleaguered British mortgage lender Northern Rock have emerged, but taxpayers in the UK could still end up propping up the company for up to three years.

Northern Rock’s potential rescuer has a strong record of snapping up stricken companies and nursing them back to health, often for big rewards.

Northern Rock suitor JC Flowers today unveiled a heavyweight management line-up for the stricken mortgage lender as talks over a possible offer continue.