The Government hopes to send a memorandum of understanding to any potential buyers of Irish Life and Permanent's insurance arm this week or next, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said today.
The High Court this month granted the Government an order directing Irish Life & Permanent to make preparations to ensure its life insurance arm is offered for sale, either via an initial public share offer or a trade sale, by the end of October.
"Following that order, I would be hopeful that as soon as this week or next, we will be able to distribute the Information Memorandum to parties who have indicated an interest in the acquisition of that business," said Mr Noonan.
He said he would prefer to see the insurance arm sold via a trade sale rather than a share flotation.
The bancassurer is selling its life insurance arm, with an embedded value of about €1.6 billion, to help plug a €4 billion capital shortfall and has been considering a share flotation or a trade sale.
Additional reporting: Bloomberg