The Royal Bank of Scotland has sold off its last major portfolio of loans backed by Northern Irish real estate to US private equity firm Cerberus for £205 mln (€290 mln).
The Royal Bank of Scotland has sold off its last major portfolio of loans backed by Northern Irish real estate to US private equity firm Cerberus for £205 mln (€290 mln).
The bank said the Project Rathlin portfolio had an unpaid loan balance of £1.4 bn and generated a loss of £16 mln in 2014.
'The disposal of this portfolio represents the final material transaction for RBS Capital Resolution in Northern Ireland,' the bank said. Completion is expected in June 2015.
It added: 'This transaction forms part of the continued reduction of assets in RCR and is in line with the bank's plan to strengthen its capital position and reduce higher risk exposures.'
Cerberus Capital Management retained its top spot as the biggest buyer of commercial real estate loan portfolios in Europe in Q1 2015, according to research from Cushman & Wakefield’s EMEA corporate finance team.
Following its acquisition of €3.5 bn in residential loans from Permanent TSB Capital Home Loans platform, the face value of transactions Cerberus has completed since the start of 2014 now comes to almost €21.5 bn.
