The Treasury is claiming it as the largest-ever financial asset sale by a government in Europe and says it will net a £280m profit for the taxpayer. Proceeds of the sale will be used to pay down the national debt.
“Today marks another major milestone in clearing up the mess left by the financial crisis, with the sale of former Northern Rock mortgages,” said Osborne.
He added “we are now clear” that UK taxpayers will get back more money from the sale than was put up at the time of the financial crisis.
“The highly competitive process, unprecedented scale, and the fact that these mortgages have been sold for almost £300m more than their book value demonstrates the confidence investors have in the UK, which has only been made possible by the success of our long-term plan.”
The mortgages, which were held by UK Asset Resolution, have been sold to US investment firm Cerberus. The Treasury said there would be no changes to the terms and conditions of the mortgages sold.
Following completion of the sale, the government will have divested itself of 85% of the Northern Rock assets acquired during the banking crisis in 2007.
