DUBLIN (Reuters) - Allied Irish Banks (AIB) (I:AIBG) has agreed to sell a 1.1 billion euro (960 million pounds) portfolio of non-performing loans to a consortium led by distressed debt fund Cerberus, the bank said in a statement on Thursday.
AIB was rescued by the Irish government during the financial crisis but its recovery since then has enabled the state to sell of some of its holding in an initial public offering last June.
AIB reduced its non-performing exposure to 9.2 billion euros at the end of March 2018 from 31 billion euros in 2013. This latest deal cuts the exposure by an additional 1.1 billion euros.
The consortium includes Everyday Finance, an Irish debt management business acquired by London-based Link Financial Group from Finance Ireland in 2016, which is regulated by the Irish central bank.
Some of the loans are in deep, long-term arrears with around 90 percent of them more than 2 years past due, and around 70 percent more than 5 years in arrears.
"The portfolio is underpinned by investment asset properties and excludes private dwelling houses and family farm homes," the bank said.
The portfolio has 800 customers with an average loan balance of 1.4 million euros and does not include loans that have been restructured and deemed to be performing by the bank.
