THE CARDINAL-LED private equity consortium, one of two final bidders for EBS building society, met regulatory staff at the Central Bank yesterday morning in advance of submitting a final bid for the lender by next Monday’s deadline.

The consortium, led by Dublin-based Cardinal Capital Group and backed by billionaire investor Wilbur Ross and US buyout firm Carlyle, gave a presentation on its plans for the building society if its bid was successful. It was the first time the group had met regulatory staff face to face

The other bidder in the process, Irish Life and Permanent, has also engaged with the Central Bank as part of the sale process, which is being overseen by the National Treasury Management Agency, the State body responsible for the Government’s banking functions.

Cardinal Capital Group directors Nigel McDermott and Nick Corcoran attended with Mr Ross, chairman of New York private equity firm WL Ross and Co; Jim Lockhart, vice-chairman of the firm, and Jim Burr, a managing director at the Carlyle Group.

Mr McDermott said the consortium was hopeful it would work with Department of Finance, the agency, the Central Bank and the European Commission to complete the acquisition of EBS after Monday’s final submissions.

He declined to comment on the nature of the consortium’s discussions with the regulator yesterday. A Central Bank spokeswoman also declined to comment on the details of yesterday’s meeting.

The Government has taken control of EBS and injected €875 million into it. The lender requires a further €438 million by the end of next month under the EU-IMF plan to recapitalise the banks to higher international standards.

The agency said last week the sale process had been delayed by consultation with the European Commission. It could not say how quickly the process would conclude as the sale still had to be approved by the commission after the selection of a preferred bidder.