DUBLIN - Irish bank Permanent TSB on Monday said Lone ​Star and ⁠a consortium comprising fellow U.S. private equity ‌funds Sixth Street and Centerbridge Partners were participating in its ​formal sale process, vying with Austrian bank BAWAG Group ​AG to acquire ​the lender.

BAWAG confirmed earlier this month that it had submitted a non-binding proposal for ⁠the mortgage-focussed bank, which put itself up for sale in October. BAWAG said the proposal could lead to an offer but that was still ​undecided.

PTSB ‌said that ⁠it expects ⁠to continue to engage with the relevant parties in the ​coming weeks. 

PTSB is by ‌some way the smallest of ⁠the three Irish banks that emerged from the euro zone's biggest state rescue over 15 years ago.

The sale, if successful, would result in the government exiting its 57.5% stake.

The bank, which had a 20% share of the Irish mortgage market last year and is ‌preparing to pay its first dividend ⁠since the 2008 crisis, had a ​market value of 1.57 billion euros ($1.81 billion) at the close of trading on Friday.

($1 = 0.8686 euros)

(Reporting ​by ‌Padraic Halpin in Dublin and Raechel ⁠Thankam Job in Bengaluru; ​Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar, Kirsten Donovan)