CarVal Investors is believed to have joined the race for the €250 million Project Club portfolio of loans, associated with the developer Eamonn Duignan.

The loans are being sold by the National Asset Management Agency and the deadline for bids is next week.

CarVal is up against Patron Capital and the investment house Castlelake for the loans, which are non-performing.

The buyer will have the opportunity to take control of a number of assets developed by Mr Duignan, including Fairgreen shopping centre in Mullingar, Co Westmeath and Navan shopping centre in Co Meath, as well as several development sites in the Dublin commuter belt.

Whoever buys the loans is likely to team up with an Irish property developer to build out the development sites as the Irish commercial market slowly recovers.

The highly regarded industry website Costar yesterday suggested the discount on the Project Club portfolio of loans could be as high as 70 or 75 per cent, suggesting a purchase price of between €62.5 million and €75 million.

Mr Duignan, who remained low-key during the boom, is a Meath-based developer who became involved in a plethora of land deals across the midlands prior to the collapse of the property market.

Well-known in horse-breeding circles, he had also been planning a shopping centre in Trim, Co Meath, just prior to the collapse.

CarVal has bought a number of distressed loan portfolios in Ireland in recent years, most of which are managed by Pepper Finance.

It had not responded to a request for comment last night, and Nama declined to comment.