Blackstone Among Investors Vying for Anglo Irish's U.S. Loans

Investor groups said to be vying for $9.65 billion in U.S. property loans held by Anglo Irish Bank include those led by Blackstone Group BX, Centerbridge Capital Partners, TPG Capital and Cerberus Capital Management. The deadline for bids was yesterday. The Dublin-based bank was nationalized two years ago and is now seeking to unload the loans, which are backed by buildings from Boston to Beverly Hills, California. Many loans in the portfolio are troubled. The portfolio has been divided into eight pools, with the largest consisting of $2.26 billion of distressed office and industrial loans. Blackstone is partnering with Deutsche Bank DB and Goldman Sachs GS. Centerbridge has turned to American International Group AIG and BlackRock BLK. Cerberus is working with Oaktree Capital Group, while TPG has tapped Lubert-Adler Partners and Pacific Investment Management Co. Winners may be selected as soon as early September. Action Items: Bullish: Traders interested in ETFs invested in Blackstone might want to consider the following trades:

• Guggenheim Multi-Asset Income CVY is up more than 7% in the past year.
• First Trust Value Line 100 Fund FVL is up more than 5% in the past year.

Bearish: Traders more interested in ETFs invested in Blackstone's publicly traded rival KKR KKR may want to consider these alternate positions:

• PowerShares Listed Private Equity PSP is up almost 5% in the past year.
• First Trust Value Line Dividend Index FVD is up about 7% in the past year.

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