The Mark Hotel: Anglo loans

Anglo Irish Bank is offloading loans of between $350m and $400m (€290m and €330m) related to hotels it backed in New York. The state-owned bank provided loans to Alexico Group for The Mark hotel, the Alex hotel and the Flatotel but is now trying to sell on the debt.

Alexico recently spent nearly €85m renovating The Mark, Crain's New York business reported, saying that the company had planned to convert some suites to private residences which would then be sold off to pay down the debt. However, it wound up cutting the number of units for sale from 42 to 10. Now, at least four buyers are suing to get out of the contracts, according to local reports.

Anglo made significant loans to the hotel and upmarket apartment sector in New York during the boom. The bank also assembled a consortium of investors to acquire Beekman Tower and Eastgate Tower Hotels in Manhattan, and this investment is now the subject of a legal dispute between the investors and the bank.