The Treasury Select Committee has raised further questions over the sale of a portfolio of former Northern Rock mortgages dubbed Project Granite to Cerberus in November this year.
The committee’s chairman Andrew Tyrie has written to the economic secretary Harriet Baldwin, asking about the sale price, possible tax revenue losses and the impact on customers among other issues.
The company won the £13bn portfolio from UK Asset Resolution, the government body responsible for managing debt from failed bank Northern Rock.
At the time it was believed Cerberus had paid more than the latest September valuation for the portfolio. Tyrie however has suggested that the portfolio was cheap, with the underlying property likely to have increased in value since 2007 when the loans were securitised.
The deal had originally come into question in parliament on 2 December when Labour MP Richard Burgon raised Cerberus involvement in the on-going investigation into Project Eagle.
Baldwin had responded to this question reassuring the MP that all due diligence had been conducted during the bidding process and that £3.3bn of the Granite portfolio was to be sold on to TSB Bank.
The later questions from Tyrie raised concerns about how Northern Rock customers would be treated.
