Irish bank to give 0% loan in bid to divest EUR 1 bn portfolio - report

Anglo Irish Bank is reportedly working on a deal to give a developer an interest-free loan to take a EUR that the proposed deal would be Green Property, owner of Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, the largest shopping centre in Ireland. Another Irish bank, Allied Irish Banks (AIB) carried out a similar transaction with Green last year to avoid selling a UK portfolio during the height of the price correction there, the newspaper said.

The Irish Times said Anglo Irish wants to sell nine properties to Green in a deal structured to minimise the risk to the property company. All the properties are worth substantially less than Anglo paid for them. Five of the properties are in its EUR 640 mln Select Geared Property Fund which was launched in 2007.

Anglo Irish Bank was nationalised by the Irish government in January 2009 to prevent its collapse. Most of the commercial bank's EUR 72 bn loan book is to builders and real estate developers.

Click on the link below to read the full story in the Irish Times1 bn London property portfolio off its hands to avoid taking a multi-million euro hit by disposing of it on the open-market. The Irish Times reported on Tuesday.