HML to manage €750m in home loans

Specialist mortgage servicing group HML has been appointed to manage a portfolio of Irish residential home loans that was once owned by

Bank of Scotland

(Ireland). It has a

face value of €750 million.

Lloyds Banking Group, Bank of Scotland's parent company, sold the loans in December for £257 million (€311m) to a company called Tanager Ltd, an affiliate of US-listed private equity group Apollo Global Management. The sale was dubbed Project Phoenix.

In sterling terms the face value of the loans was £610 million meaning Apollo paid 42 per cent of the face value.

Lapithus, another associate of Apollo, was charged with managing the Irish portfolio and this entity has appointed HML to handle what was a group of non-performing loans for Lloyds.

Clonskeagh-based
This is the biggest client win for UK-based HML since it opened an office in Clonskeagh, Dublin, last October.

The company is expected to hire up to 30 staff to service the portfolio, and is also to pitch for other mandates in the Republic as it seeks to build its business here.

The portfolio comprises about 2,000 residential and buy-to-let mortgages. At the time of the sale, Lloyds said the portfolio had generated losses of £33 million in 2012. This transaction was part of Lloyds sale of non-core assets.

New MD
HML established a presence in Ireland in 2005, largely based in Derry, where it employs more than 300 staff.

It is servicing about 10,000 mortgages for three Irish financial institutions with a total value of €2.75 billion. In time, it is expected to employ about 100 staff in Dublin.

In January, Yorkshire- based HML appointed David Kelly as managing director of its Irish operations to develop its business in the Republic. He joined from Cork-based business processing group South Western, where he was chief commercial officer.

HML is a leading third-party financial administration company. It manage accounts for around 50 major clients, including banks and building societies, with about £37 billion of assets under management.

HML declined to comment on the contract win.