Those who applied for information on the sale of the State-owned ICCBank are no doubt carefully perusing the documentation which, some sources remarked, seemed overly-long for merely an information memorandum and overly-waffly to boot.
Banking analysts are finding it difficult to get excited about the sale, pointing out that various governments have been talking about selling the institution for years. They also expect that there will not be many candidates in the final shake-up.
The information document does give some interesting breakdowns of various aspects of its business. One of the attractions of ICC is its venture capital arm, an operation which is well-regarded in financial circles.
ICC Venture Capital invests directly through funding from ICC and indirectly via its four managed funds.
Its venture capital fund, which was established as a method for pension funds to invest in venture capital, has made 17 investments to date. Its software fund, which invests in information technology and software companies, has made nine investments. Its private equity fund, whose first closing was in April, has a committed amount of £70 million (€88.88 million) from investors.
As of April 30th, the company had invested in 56 businesses, either directly or through managed funds.
Other venture capital players in the Irish market include Delta partners (which is supported by Bank of Ireland - hotly tipped to buy ICCBank) and ACT (formerly an Allied Irish Banks subsidiary) as well as newer funds such as the Trinity fund and the Hibernia fund.
The possibility of selling off the venture capital arm separately has been discounted by analysts.
Interested parties must tender indicative bids by August 23rd. After that they will get access to the data room and the serious number crunching will take place. ICCBank is expected to make £330 million but the figure could be higher - depending on how badly potential buyers want it.
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