After announcing a deal with the Irish government to buy the country’s largest savings bank, EBS, legendary investor Wilbur Ross, chairman and CEO of W.L. Ross & Co., told CNBC Monday that the European nation will have a V-shape recovery.
“Ireland is going to go through a period for a little while. The government has moved very aggressively to deal with the problem,” said Ross, who is known for investing in seemingly risky ventures that turn out well.
“Ireland will have a V-shaped recovery, as opposed the wobbly things that may happen elsewhere in Europe.”
He expects the recovery in Ireland to take about a year.
Ross’s company has partnered with the Carlyle Groupand Ireland’s Cardinal Asset Management to purchase the EBS (Educational Building Society)from the Irish government. Ross expects the deal to close within the next few months.
During the housing boom in Ireland, between 2003 and 2006, Irish banks made bad loans not only in Ireland, but Spain, Florida and in other places, said Ross.
When Ireland's property boom collapsed, according to the AP, banks tottered under bad loans and unemployment soared above 13 percent. To avoid bankruptcy, the AP reported, Ireland was forced to accept a $92 billion credit line from the European Central Bank, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.