South African bank Investec is understood to have fielded offers from international banks, credit funds and special situation funds for a $1bn loan book it has on the market.
Working on the sale is the Australian corporate advisory division that was previously attached to the bank and has now been subject to a management buyout.
After announcing a retreat from the local market last year, the plan by Investec was to run down its Australian loan books.
Initially, special situation funds were understood to have come forward with offers of about 90c in the dollar for what is a book of performing leveraged finance and asset backed loans. But the bank is now understood to be working on a sale after fielding offers from prospective buyers prepared to pay at least book value for the portfolio.
DataRoom revealed the sale plans for the loans on Monday.
The London and Johannesburg-listed Investec in December said it would exit from Australia and focus on its core markets after operating here for 23 years. The transition is expected to happen over the next 12 to 18 months.
The sale will be the second for Investec of loans in Australia within years after it offloaded its professional finance business to Bank of Queensland in 2014.
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