Final deadline for IBRC mortgage bids passes

The deadline for final bids on the sale of 13,250 IBRC mortgages passed yesterday evening, with several private equity firms understood to remain in the running to buy the loans.

The Project Sand tranche of loans, which have a balance of about €1.8 billion, are mostly residential mortgages that originated with Irish Nationwide. Half of the mortgages are in arrears.

They are being sold to the highest bidder by the IBRC special liquidators.

A spokesman for the liquidators, Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of accountancy giant KPMG, declined to comment on the process.

The two KPMG partners were given the task last year of selling IBRC’s €21.7 billion portfolio of corporate, commercial real estate and residential mortgage loans.

Residual loans are to be transferred to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

Concerns have been raised that the sale of the mortgages will result in a loss of consumer protection safety nets for borrowers.