The process of the sale of as much as 15.7 billion pounds ($20 billion) of Bradford & Bingley mortgages which paused in the wake of the Brexit vote is being restarted by the British government.

According to three people with knowledge of the matter, non-disclosure agreements to prospective buyers this week is being sent by U.K. Asset Resolution Ltd., the body that has managed Britain’s fully nationalized banks since the financial crisis. After the nation’s June 23 vote to leave the European Union, there was a hiatus to assess the market and the restart follows that assessment, sources said.

In looking to dispose of bailed-out banking assets stuck on the U.K.’s books since the crisis, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is following in the footsteps of his predecessor George Osborne. The government’s losses from the sliding share prices of state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc. would be helped pt be offset by selling the Bradford & Bingley loans.

“We have received the necessary approvals and can confirm that we have launched the first phase of a program of asset sales that could ultimately enable Bradford & Bingley to repay its 15.65 billion-pound loan from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme,” UKAR said in an e-mailed statement. “This process remains commercially sensitive and there is nothing more we can say at this time.”

By selling the Bradford & Bingley mortgages within two years, the government proposed raising at least 15.7 billion pounds in Osborne’s last budget. The sources said that prices have stabilized to enable the government to push ahead, although the aftermath of the EU referendum derailed the process amid whipsawing markets and Osborne’s ouster.

The sources further said that UKAR will test appetite from potential bidders for the loans, which are predominantly landlords’ buy-to-let mortgages but isn’t outlining the value of the initial tranche it plans to sell. Any divestment would be subject to market conditions and need to ensure value for British taxpayers, the Treasury has previously said.

“Highly confident” letters from a group of British lenders setting out how they would provide debt funding to support a major sales program of the Bradford & Bingley mortgages were received, Britain’s finance ministry said earlier this year. Since it it could help them save hundreds of millions of pounds in annual contributions to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme deposit-protection program, the U.K.’s biggest banks want to finance the disposal.

According to data on the agency’s website, to cover interest on a loan from the Treasury taken out to fund the 2008 rescue of Bradford & Bingley, the largest lenders have collectively paid more than 2 billion pounds to the FSCS since 2009. The proceeds from the asset sale are earmarked for repaying the loan.

In November, 13 billion pounds of loans from collapsed bank Northern Rock held by UKAR were sold to U.S. private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and a successful disposal would follow that sale. While Moelis & Co. is also advising the government, Credit Suisse Group AG is helping oversee the process.

(Adapted from Bloomberg)

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