PTSB signs legal agreement to buy €7.6bn of Ulster Bank mortgages and loans

Eamonn Crowley, Permanent TSB chief executive

Donal O'Donovan

Permanent TSB has signed a legal agreement to acquire €7.6bn of assets from Ulster Bank, moving the ultimate deal significantly closer to completion.

NatWest will acquire 16.66pc stake in Permanent TSB as part of the deal, making it the second biggest shareholder after the Irish government.

The sale cements Ulster Bank’s exit from the Irish market and catapults smaller rival PTSB into third place in terms of bank market share, though still well behind AIB and Bank of Ireland.PTSB’s CEO Eamonn Crowley said the move was “a decisive step in transforming Permanent TSB”.

The deal will increase PTSB’s mortgage book by.40pc and its branch network by c.30pc.

The planned sale was announced in February, but Permanent TSB has now entered into legally binding agreements with NatWest Group Plc and Ulster Bank Ireland DAC to acquire approximately €7.6bn of the Ulster Bank Retail, SME and Asset Finance business in the Republic of Ireland.

The sale remains subject to obtaining the required regulatory approvals from the Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) and the Central Bank of Ireland, as well as to approval by Permanent TSB shareholders – by far the largest of whom is the Minister for Finance who has already welcomed the sale.

The deal includes: Ulster Bank’s performing non-tracker residential mortgage book of Ulster Bank (approximately €7bn), plus performing micro-SME loans (€230m), Lombard Asset Finance loans (€400m).

As well as the loans PTSB is taking over 25 Ulster Bank branches and around 450 Ulster Bank staff.

Elements of the deal are expected to be completed in late 2022 and no later than 30 June 2023.

Ulster Bank personal and business customers, whose loans are intended to transfer as part of this Transaction, do not need to take any action for now.