LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - British bank Barclays Plc has sold a 1.6 billion pound ($2.4 billion) portfolioof UK loans to a group of investors led by U.S. investment bankGoldman Sachs Group Inc.
The loans are part of 110 billion pounds of assets Barclayshas designated as "non-core", which it no longer wants andintends to sell or run down.
Barclays' non-core assets, which also include loans incontinental Europe and assets held by its investment bankingarm, had been cut to 57 billion pounds by the end of June, andthe bank aims to reduce the total to about 20 billion by the endof 2017.
The latest portfolio sold are "second charge" loans, where asecond loan is secured against a home, often to raise moneyinstead of remortgaging. Barclays inherited the loans from itspurchase of Woolwich in 2003.
Barclays said the loans, which had a notional value of 1.6billion pounds, or 1.2 billion on a risk-adjusted basis, willhave a positive impact on its core capital ratio.
The group of buyers was led by Goldman and also includedElderbridge, which buys and administers loans and is part ofservicing and software firm Target Group, and UK private equityfirm Pollen Street Capital.
($1 = 0.6553 pounds) (Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by David Holmes)