National Australia Bank is to sell an additional £1.2 billion parcel of higher risk loans from its UK Commercial Real Estate (CRE) portfolio to an affiliate of Cerberus Global Investors (Cerberus).

As a result of the sale, a small gain is expected to be recognised in the March 2015 half year accounts, and an estimated £127 million of capital will be released for the NAB Group when the transaction is settled.

Following the sale, the balance of the portfolio will be reduced to £836 million, compared to the original balance of £5.6 billion in October 2012 when the run-off portfolio was first established.

NAB Group Chief Executive Andrew Thorburn said NAB had accelerated the run-off of the NAB UK CRE portfolio, with the great majority of the remaining non-performing loans being sold.

“This is an important step forward, effectively bringing closure to one of our legacy positions. The sale of these higher risk loans in the NAB UK CRE portfolio is another important milestone in our strategy of reducing our low returning legacy assets and sharpening our focus on our core Australian and New Zealand franchises,” Mr Thorburn said.

“Pleasingly the remaining NAB UK CRE loans are largely strong performing loans, and we will look at other options to manage this small remaining portfolio.”

You can also read the full ASX announcement or visit our shareholder centre.