The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) has kickstarted the sale of a loan portfolio valued at $18.5 billion held by Signature Bank. This portfolio is a collection of debt linked to prominent private equity and investment firms.

As Bloomberg's Natalie Wong reported on Friday, the portfolio includes 201 performing capital-call loans connected to firms such as Starwood Capital Group, Carlyle Group Inc. (CG  ), Blackstone Inc. (BX  ), Thoma Bravo, and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (BAM  ), as per an anonymous source.

The loans on the auction block are subscription credit facilities extended to private equity funds, as per the FDIC's notice. Newmark Group Inc. (NMRK  ) will be the entity managing the sale.

Exclusively available to FDIC-insured depository institutions, the sale began on July 25 and is slated to conclude in September. The final sale is expected to be wrapped up in early October.

As part of its strategy to reduce holdings of Signature Bank loans, the FDIC is conducting this sale, aiming to unload approximately $60 billion worth of loans. Following the collapse of Signature Bank amid regional banking instability earlier this year, these loans have been under the FDIC's receivership.

Preparations for the sale of Signature's commercial real estate loans are being undertaken by Newmark, but the exact timeline for the sale remains uncertain.