Bank of Ireland became the first Irish bank to meet its divestment target set under the country's bailout from the European Union and IMF on Thursday by completing sales of 10 billion euros ($12.5 billion) worth of loans 18 months ahead of schedule.
Bank of Ireland, the only Irish bank to escape majority state ownership after the bursting of a property bubble brought the sector to the brink, said sales throughout the second quarter had brought total divestments to date to 10.3 billion euros.
Total sales were 300 million euros above target and achieved at a weighted average discount of 7.9 percent, which analysts said was well within expectations.
The bank said on Thursday that it had sold its UK infrastructure project finance loan book, which encompasses undrawn commitments of approximately 270 million euros, to Danish pension fund PensionDenmark.
PensionDenmark paid a price at around 83.5 percent of these commitments, the bank said.
Bank of Ireland, which last week appointed billionaire US investor Wilbur Ross to its board, said it expects to complete the rest of its deleveraging plan, which involves running down its loan book to around 90 billion euros, by the deadline of the end of 2013.
Irish banks, which have been heavily recapitalised after reporting huge losses throughout Ireland's financial crisis, have to cut their combined balance sheets by 70 billion euros by running down or selling loans as part of the sector-wide deleveraging plan. - Reuters