Cowdery eyeing Bank of Ireland unit

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Entrepreneur Clive Cowdery is considering making a bid for Bank of Ireland's (BKIR.I: Quote, Profile, Research) UK mortgage lending unit, Irish media reported on Sunday.

A Bank of Ireland spokeswoman said it did not comment on speculation. A spokesman for Cowdery declined to comment.

The Sunday Independent, citing an unnamed source, said Cowdery had drawn up a list of potential targets in the UK mortgage market. Bank of Ireland's (BKIR.L: Quote, Profile, Research) UK subsidiary Bristol & West Mortgages was among them, it said.

The Sunday Independent estimated a price tag of between 800 million euros to 1.4 billion euros (1.1 billion pounds), but added that given the current market turmoil a bid could be much lower.

Last month Cowdery scrapped his plan to inject 400 million pounds into Bradford & Bingley BB.L, saying the UK lender's refusal to open its books made a deal impossible.

Cowdery, who previously built up a FTSE 100 .FTSE firm from the consolidation of closed life insurance companies, has said he wants to consolidate some of Britain's smaller banks and other lenders hit by the credit market turmoil to create "a new, larger and stronger bank".

The Sunday Independent said Cowdery and his advisers were understood to have made approaches to a number of smaller banks and building societies and was likely to contact Bank of Ireland in September.

Ireland's Sunday Business Post and the Sunday Independent said while Bank of Ireland had not sought to sell Bristol & West Mortgages, given the current downturn an attractive offer may be tempting.

Bank of Ireland has indicated that earnings would fall in the coming year with the slowdown in the Irish, UK and U.S. economies taking their toll.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Hsu Chuang Khoo in London; Editing by Erica Billingham)