Seen & Heard: RBS courts investors for Ulster Bank

Royal Bank of Scotland is poised to kick off a search for a big private equity investor willing to invest in Ulster Bank in Ireland, the Sunday Times reported.

It said RBS is planning to approach a number of leading private equity groups, including Blackstone, KKR and Carlyle, with a view to injecting hundreds of millions of pounds into an enlarged venture in return for a large stake in the financial institution. RBS does not have the resources to fund the turnaround itself, according to the report.

Bolting Ulster Bank on to other lenders such as Permanent TSB could allow the bank to strip out costs and mount a credible challenge to AIB and Bank of Ireland, the newspaper stated.

State could net €1 billion from IBRC loan sales
The Government could receive in the region of €1 billion when the special liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation close the sale of the remaining €1.9 billion in loans later this year, according to the Sunday Business Post .

The liquidators at KPMG are also reported to be considering offering 6,500 remaining mortgage holders at IBRC the option to buy their own loans, rather than seeing their mortgages being sold to a private fund.

Michael Smurfit to invest in Moocall farming device
Michael Smurfit and the Smurfit family trust are poised to invest in a company called Moocall, which has developed a sensor that will alert farmers when a calf is about to be born, the Sunday Independent reported.

The sensor has been developed by Offaly farmer Niall Austin and the paper reports that he is planning to tap into a 300 million head of cattle market across the United States, Canada and South America.

The product is in the final stage of development and is being trialled by 20 farmers in Tipperary. Moocall will launch this summer with an immediate export focus, the paper stated.