US real estate investor Kennedy Wilson is in talks to acquire a EUR 675 mln non-performing loan (NPL) portfolio marketed by Allied Irish Bank, PropertyEU has learned.
US real estate investor Kennedy Wilson is in talks to acquire a EUR 675 mln non-performing loan (NPL) portfolio marketed by Allied Irish Bank, PropertyEU has learned.
Well-informed market sources told PropertyEU that the company has teamed up with US opportunity funds Varde Partners as well as DK Partners to launch a bid for the Project Kildare package of predominantly Irish loans. The Kennedy Wilson consortium is believed to be one of three bidders for the assets, with private equity group Lone Star and Goldman Sachs' Special Situations Fund also thought to have presented an offer.
'They are still working on the deal,' the source said. Morgan Stanley is managing the sales process.
The assets are expected to be divested for a 70% discount to nominal value, similar to past non-performing loan portfolio deals.
It is the latest real estate debt operation negotiated in Europe by Kennedy Wilson since its entry into the market in 2011. Last year, the company completed the acquisition of a UK real estate loan portfolio from Bank of Ireland for $1.8 bn (EUR 1.3 bn). In August this year, the Beverly Hills, California-based investor acquired an Irish loan portfolio with an unpaid principal balance of EUR 361 mln together with its partner, the European Commercial Real Estate Group of Deutsche Bank.
Varde Partners has been active in Europe recently with the acquisition earlier this year of a retail portfolio in Spain at a massive discount.
