At least four banking brands are considering a bid for Kensington Mortgages with private equity firms also interested in the lender.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs, high street brands Virgin Money and Metro Bank and buy-to-let lender Paragon are all said to be interested in the firm, The Sunday Times reported.
South African banking giant Investec last month appointed Fenchurch Advisory to handle the sale, which has been codenamed Project Koala.
It paid £283m for Kensington in the summer of 2007 and several private equity firms are also said to be interested in purchasing the lender.
The newspaper said Kensington is lending almost £40m in new mortgages each month and is expected to announce yearly profits of £35m when its annual results are released later in the spring.
