NWG Natwest Group Plc

By Joe Hoppe

NatWest Group PLC said Friday that it has agreed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Permanent TSB Group Holdings PLC, as part of its phased withdrawal from Ireland.

The U.K. bank said that together with its subsidiary Ulster Bank Ltd., it has entered the memorandum with the Dublin-listed lender for the proposed sale of performing non-tracker mortgages, performing micro-SME loans, the subsidiary's asset-finance business and a subset of its branch locations.

This includes around 7.6 billion euros ($8.95 billion) of gross performing loans as of March 31 and 25 locations. Ulster Bank had total retail, micro-SME and asset finance gross lending of EUR16.1 billion in Ireland as of March 2021. Around 400-500 employees will also be transferred.

In return, the memorandum proposes that NatWest receives a minority non-consolidating equity stake in PTSB as part of the consideration for the deal.

NatWest first said it would leave the Irish market on Feb. 19. It said then that its Northern Irish banking business would be unaffected.

The potential sale is subject to due diligence, further negotiation and agreement, regulatory and other approvals and other terms, and NatWest said there is no guarantee of a sale.

Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 23, 2021 02:39 ET (06:39 GMT)

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