Dublin firm International Securities Trading Corporation (ISTC), which is under court protection from its creditors, has received direct approaches from five parties interested in investing in the company.
ISTC, which successfully applied to have an interim examiner appointed last week, has received expressions of interest from two banks, two asset management companies and one investment company in addition to three approaches made to its UK financial advisers, Hawkpoint.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs has expressed an interest in investing in ISTC, while US hedge fund Silver Point Capital is also interested. Another US hedge fund, Avenue Capital, is considering an investment.
ISTC believes it can survive the current volatility in the markets.
The independent accountant, David Hughes of Ernst & Young, appointed by the company to assess the future viability of the business, said in his report that the company had a reasonable prospect of survival.
ISTC is the biggest Irish casualty of the global credit crunch. It raises money on the capital markets to lend on to financial institutions. Some of the country's best-known businessmen are investors in the firm, which was set up by former Anglo Irish Bank executive Tiarnan O'Mahoney in 2005.
The court heard last week that if the company is put into liquidation, it will face estimated debts of €871 million. The company sought the appointment of an interim examiner after some of its assets were downgraded in value and one of its creditors, German bank Dresdner Kleinwort, issued a 21-day demand seeking repayment of a €176,000 fee that had become overdue.
The court was told that ISTC could survive if conditions were met. These included the availability of funding to pay creditors under a scheme of arrangement and to provide working capital for the company's future activities.
The company must also reach agreement with creditors to continue trading.
The Dublin company must also cap its exposure to collateral calls by secured lenders and not pay any collateral calls to creditors during its court protection.
ISTC believes it has a viable business model, which, if it survives the current turmoil, will ensure it can continue to trade.
It has in recent months approached British building societies and European savings banks with a view to conducting more business.
ISTC believes there are more than 10,000 banks that could be targeted as customers, many of which have not had access to eligible bank capital.
ISTC owes secured creditor lenders €2.4 billion and a further €150.9 million to unsecured creditor lenders. It also owes €281.2 million in subordinated liabilities and €29.4 million through derivative financial instruments, which the company used to protect its borrowings against currency and exchange rate movements.
The company's assets include cash of €30.7 million and loans to customers of €2.9 billion, which are estimated to realise €1.9 billion if the company is put into liquidation.
