Goldman Sachs stands to lose money on a multi-million euro loan it made to one of Portugal's largest banks a month before it collapsed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The US investment bank made the $835-million (635-million-euro) loan in July through a Luxembourg financing vehicle it created at a time when Banco Espirito Santo, on the verge of bankruptcy, found it nearly impossible to borrow money directly in capital markets, the newspaper said.
The loan proved to be only a brief lifeline for BES, which was bailed out and dismantled in August. A recapitalisation of nearly 5 billion euros was paid for largely with public money.