Allied Irish Bank continues to exit its property investments, offloading its €600m (£475m) Polish property fund management subsidiary and its interest in two European property funds.
The bank sold its AIB PPM subsidiary as well as its 9.87% interest in Polonia Property Fund and 7.5% interest in Polonia Property Fund II to European real estate private equity firm Peakside Capital.
The firm made what is its first direct investment into Poland through its Peakside Real Estate Fund I. It teamed up with rival private equity group Partners in a 50:50 joint venture to buy the two stakes.
No price was given for the deal, which transfers more than €600m of gross assets to Peakside.
The 99.8% state-owned bank is one of a raft of lenders looking to unwind its exposure to the European real estate market and is in the process of selling two non-performing loan portfolios.
It has selected four parties, comprising Cerberus Capital Management; Kennedy Wilson, working with its partner Deutsche Bank; Forum Partners; and Apollo Global Management as shortlisted bidders for its £383m Project Pivot UK loan book.
Project Pivot comprises performing loans secured against 247 UK properties.
AIB is also looking to offload a €675m mostly Irish loan book code named Project Kildare.
Lone Star, Goldman Sachs Special Situations Fund and a joint bid by Kennedy Wilson and Varde Partners make up the Project Kildare shortlist.
