The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has announced a full Phase 2 investigation into the proposed acquisition by Permanent TSB plc of certain assets of Ulster Bank Ireland.

Following an extended Phase 1 investigation, the CCPC said it has determined that a full investigation is required in order to establish if the proposed transaction could lead to a substantial lessening of competition.

The deal was notified to the watchdog on 22 December 2021.

The proposed transaction was originally agreed in July 2021 and then proceeded to due diligence.

PTSB wants to buy:

In Association with

· The performing non-tracker residential mortgage book of Ulster Bank (approximately €7.0bn.

· The performing micro-SME loan book of Ulster Bank (c.€230m.

· The entire Lombard Asset Finance loan business of the Ulster Bank (c.€400m.

· 25 branches in Ulster Bank's branch network.

Based on an expected portfolio size of c.€6.75bn at completion. PTSB is prepared to pay c.€6.4bn in cash, plus 91 million new shares in PTSB issued to the vendor.

If the deal goes through, PTSB’s mortgage book will increase by c.40% from its end-2020 level and its branch network by c.30%. The bank's business lending will triple in size relative to its end-2020 level when incorporating the micro-SME loans and the established Asset Finance business being acquired.

Eamonn Crowley, Permanent TSB chief executive, commented at the time: “This is a decisive step in transforming Permanent TSB to be Ireland's best personal and small business bank.

“It will give us much greater scale and business model diversification, along with, many more customers and branches to fuel our ambition to grow and build a sustainable organisation for the future.”

in April 2022, the CCPC cleared AIB's acquisition of the Ulster Bank commercial loans portfolio.