Cardinal ups bid for EBS to over 600m
As final bids for EBS Building Society are being completed by the two remaining bidders a private equity consortium led by Dublin firm Cardinal and Irish Life & Permanent it has emerged that Cardinal has increased its offer and said its initial cash injection will be over 600m.
Previously, the Cardinal consortium had offered to inject €525m in cash into the troubled lender.
The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) is handling the sale said the two final bids had been received ahead of yesterday’s headline.
Currently, EBS is state-controlled following €875m of State funding being used to rescue the lender. However, a further €438m is needed by the building society to reach new capital and liquidity requirements.
Irish Life & Permanent wish to merge the building society with its banking arm, Permanent TSB.
It is yet unclear who the frontrunner is in the bidding process. The Government would have to inject more capital if IL&P won the bidding war but it would take a minority stake in a larger merged bank. However, the bank itself has tough capital requirements to meet and that might be a contributing factor to the NTMA’s final decision about who to sell the lender to.
Cardinal has offered to cover any further potential losses up to €450m. If that amount is reached, the Government would take on 70pc of further losses.