POTENTIAL BUYERS are lining up their final bids for the properties owned by the joint venture between troubled Taggart Holdings and Goodbody Stockbrokers' private clients.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) was last week appointed administrator to Taggart Homes Belfast Number One Ltd and a subsidiary, Taggart Estates Ltd. Both are part of a €300 million property development joint venture between Goodbody clients and Taggart Holdings.

Taggart Holdings itself was given court protection from its creditors in October. Garth Calow and Rob Birchall, partners in PWC's Belfast office, are acting as administrators. Property developer and house builder Taggart owes a reported €150 million to Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank.

PWC has spoken to several potential buyers of Taggart Homes Number One's assets, which consist of five sites in residential areas near Belfast.

The Irish Times understands it has now asked them for their best and final offer. Once PWC receives these, it is likely to begin the process of selling the properties.

Under the original deal, it is understood that Goodbody's clients have pre-emption rights over Taggart's interest in the properties, which effectively gave them first refusal in the event that their shareholder wanted to sell.

It is not known if this still applies, or if Goodbody intends to exercise it on behalf of its clients. Last week, the firm said it was looking at all its options.

A sale of the land is likely to set the tone for any disposal of the rest of Taggart's assets, and give a pointer to the current value of Irish development land.

Taggart and Goodbody established the joint ventures in 2006 to buy up to €300 million of land in south Belfast and Dundonald on which they planned to build and sell houses.

They were funded with a mix of debt and €30 million in equity from Goodbody clients.