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Article: Northern Rock bolstered by sale of equity release portfolio
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- January 12, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2008 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Northern Rock is to make its first repayment of the 26bn of
emergency loans it has racked up with the Bank of England after
agree-ing to sell its Lifetime portfolio of equity release mortgages
to the investment bank JP Morgan for 2.25bn.
The sale proceeds, to be paid in cash, will immediately be handed
over to the Bank of England to reduce the size of Northern Rock's
funding position.
The sale of the Lifetime business yesterday is the most positive
development for the mortgage bank since it was plunged into crisis
in September. The book of equity release loans, mortgages secured on
elderly homeowners' properties, represents around 2 per cent of
Northern Rock's assets, raising the hope that ...