Anchorage stirs NAB debt dump GLOBAL hedge fund Anchorage Capital Group is pressing NAB to place dozens of cases of distressed Australian agricultural debt up for sale in one major portfolio that could comprise about $500 million worth of loans. Talks had been under way between the bank and Anchorage about a potential deal, although the bank was still weighing up its options, sources told The Australian. NAB is one of the largest lenders on agricultural properties in Australia, where there is about $60 billion worth of farm debt nationally. In recent years, banks have been forced to call in some of those loans amid tough industry conditions. Particularly hard hit have been dairy farms, properties including Western Australia's largest dairy farming operation, Lactanz Dairies, up for sale for $30m through receivers Ferrier Hodgson on behalf of Rabobank. Tasmania has about 30 dairy properties up for sale, sources say. It is believed NAB has several hundred million of assets being "closely monitored" but the proportion of those in the agricultural sector is unclear. However, a source said there could easily be $500m worth of agricultural loans that could be sold. Distressed agriculture loans under NAB's watch would probably include loans on farms in western Victoria, sources said. Should NAB proceed with a move to sell down the debt in one line, the portfolio would probably include a beef farm with a loan worth about $80m as one of the largest assets, sources said. NAB declined to comment, but sources close to the bank said they believed it was still considering whether to sell loans individually or in one line. No distressed debt was currently on the market, but a portfolio was likely to come up for sale, although the timing of a sale was unclear. Some properties needed work while others were performing well, sources said. The bank was working out how to group the loans together to be of most interest to the market, a source said, adding that NAB was attracting interest from an "ever increasing" group of hedge funds about investments, where they could receive a return of 25 per cent. One aspect that needed to be considered was what the hedge funds could do that NAB was unable to do itself. "For it to make sense, they would need to have done some actual plan, to have scale or an end purchaser, having a fund set up here in Australia to run these assets long term," one source said. Elsewhere, other banks are receiving "all kinds of interest" about assets under pressure, some using the purchase of the loans as a way to secure control of the asset.