(Bloomberg) — The U.K. will raise 11.8 billion pounds ($14.7 billion) selling mortgages to Blackstone Group LP funds and Prudential PLC, as it takes another step toward clearing assets acquired from lenders that failed in the financial crisis.
"This is a significant milestone," Ian Hares, chief executive officer of UK Asset Resolution Ltd., the state agency that managed the sale, said on a call with reporters on Friday. The sale price for the loans, originally made by Bradford & Bingley, surpasses their fair value in UKAR's accounts, he said.
The deal is probably the last major disposal of mortgages from U.K. lenders nationalized during the 2008 financial crisis and forms part of the government's push to raise funds by offloading bailed-out banking assets. Blackstone and London-based Prudential won a months-long bidding process for the loans, seeing off competitors including Cerberus Capital Management, CarVal Investors LLC and Elliott Management Corp.
The U.K. Prudential, which is not related to Prudential Financial, is the parent of Jackson National, a major U.S. annuity issuer.
