Liquidators to sell Anglo and Nationwide staff loans

Portfolio ranges from staff mortgages to loans for Anglo share options

IBRC's special liquidators are gearing up to sell off loans owed by past and current staff of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide with a face value of €30 million.

The sale is expected to attract interest from private equity buyers prepared to take on a mixture of loans, ranging from home mortgages taken out by Irish Nationwide staff to loans taken out by former Anglo bankers to exercise share options.

It also includes dozens of loans taken out by Anglo staff to invest in popular Irish movies, in order to avail of section 281 tax breaks, as well as loans taken out to acquire investment property.

However, the sale will not include loans owed by David Drumm, its former chief executive, or Seán FitzPatrick, its former chairman, both of whom are bankrupt.

READ MORE

Loans owed by Willie McAteer, its former finance director, and Patrick Whelan, its former head of Irish lending, are also not included in the sale of this loan portfolio.

Mr FitzPatrick, Mr Whelan and Mr McAteer are all facing criminal charges in relation to various matters concerning the former Anglo Irish Bank.

Mr Drumm, who now lives in America, has not been charged with any offence, although he is known to be wanted for questioning by gardaí.

Borrowings

A loan owed by

Tom Browne

, a former Anglo executive who resigned in late 2007, is also not being sold. He borrowed €50 million from Anglo to buy its shares after he left the bank.

He claims he has no liability to IBRC on grounds including that when the loans were made, the bank was allegedly aware that an interest acquired by Seán Quinn in the bank was such as to undermine its stability and to render his shareholding valueless. This is disputed by the IBRC special liquidators .

Loans owed by these former Anglo bankers are intended to be sold off by the special liquidators ultimately, but no date has been set for this process.

KPMG accountants Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson, the IBRC special liquidators, are working on several other significant loan sales, as they complete their task of winding up the bank.

Earlier this month they pushed the button on the sale of Anglo’s former investment wing, which has €1.2 billion in assets under management.

They are also considering new bids for loans linked to the Racing Post newspaper, the Blackrock Clinic and Jurys Inn hotels. These loans were put on sale again after no bidder met the reserve price.