By Caroline Henshaw
SYDNEY--Bank of Queensland (BOQ.AU) said Tuesday it has accepted
a bid from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) for a portfolio of four
commercial property loans worth a face value of 156 million
Australian dollars (US$160.6 million).
The regional lender said at the end of last month that it had
decided not to sell the whole of its A$230 million collection of
impaired loans after offers made for the assets didn't live up to
its expectations.
In Tuesday's statement to the exchange, Chief Executive Stuart
Grimshaw said the revised offer from the investment bank, which
includes three of the Bank of Queensland's largest impaired assets
originally worth a total of A$156 million, was now at an
"acceptable" price.
A spokeswoman declined to provide further details of the price
paid by Goldman Sachs for the loans.
"The outlook continues to be challenging, with no material
improvement in business conditions or the commercial and
residential property markets yet evident," said Mr. Grimshaw in the
statement.
Write to Caroline Henshaw at caroline.henshaw@dowjones.com
