Bank of Ireland has agreed to pay €253 million for a portfolio of performing residential mortgages from the special liquidators to Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.

This represents a small premium on the €250 million face value of the loan book, which was being sold by liquidators Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of KPMG.

In October, The Irish Times revealed that Bank of Ireland and AIB had expressed an interest in acquiring this portfolio of loans, which is a book of former Irish Nationwide residential mortgages.

It comprises about 5,000 loans with around 3,000 customers. It was part of the Project Pearl sale process by the liquidators, which itself was part of the disposal of €2.5 billion in residual assets that the liquidators did not sell earlier this year, when 90 per cent of IBRC’s €21.7 billion loans were transacted.

This followed the decision by the State to liquidate IBRC, which comprised the former Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, in February 2013.

Bank of Ireland said the deal was “consistent” with its plan to “grow its lending volumes”. The transaction is expected to close shortly and will involve a payment of €253 million in cash on completion.

Gavin Kelly, director with Bank of Ireland Consumer Banking, said: "We are pleased to announce this transaction which is a positive development for our business and look forward to welcoming a new group of customers to Bank of Ireland."