Robbie Hughes, of Link Group, predicts another eight bad-loan portfolios will be offloaded within the next 18 months

Link Group, which manages thousands of distressed mortgages for Cerberus Capital Management and other so-called vulture funds, has described Ireland as “the gift that keeps giving” and predicts that banks here could be forced to offload as many as eight more loan books over the next 18 months.

In a presentation for investors last week, the Australian-owned outsourcing specialist said Irish lenders had lined up three loan portfolios with par values of €4.5bn-€5bn each for sale before the end of this year.

Through its local subsidiary Everyday Finance, Link is the largest credit servicing firm in Ireland, managing loans that have been sold to vulture funds by AIB, Ulster Bank and other mainstream lenders. Its predictions were made in response to investors’ questions about how