Potential purchasers which made indicative offers for ICC Bank by the 12 noon deadline yesterday are expected to be told within about seven working days if they have made the shortlist to the next round.

Strong contenders to buy ICC are understood to include Irish Intercontinental Bank owned by KBC bank of Belgium, Bank of Ireland, Bank of Scotland and the Dutch bank Nationale Investerings (DNIB).

It is understood that five or six bids were received by the deadline and that most bids came from non-Irish institutions.

Officials from the Department of Finance and the Government advisers on the sale, ABN AMRO Corporate Finance, will start to review the bids today. Bid details are expected to be discussed with the partnership group at ICC - comprising representatives of the board, management staff and unions - about next Wednesday. It is understood that the partnership group will be consulted before the Minister for Finance approves the shortlist of prospective purchasers.

The final decision will be based not solely on price grounds but will also consider issues like the prospective investors' plans for ICC's future development.

The second, and possibly final, stage in the bidding for the bank which is expected to raise more than £330 million (#419 million) for the Government, may be limited to about three potential purchasers. These bidders will be given access to more detailed information than was made available to first-round bidders and will then be asked to confirm or change their indicative offers and business plans.

Sources suggested that ABN AMRO Corporate Finance might allow three bidders into the second round. "If only two bidders were allowed to go forward and one dropped out then the competitive element would be removed and the sellers would have a problem," the source said.

But in deciding how many bidders to allow into the second round the need to get the best possible price and business plan for ICC will have to be balanced against the need to maintain the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information about its operations from potential competitors.

At the second stage the business plans of the bidders would be examined in more detail and the real intent of each bidder will be carefully assessed.

Shortlisted investors will have an opportunity to meet the ICC management and unions and the management and unions will be able to question the investors.

At this stage, prospective bidders will be asked to give a binding confirmation of the price per share which they have agreed to offer. Clarification of aspects of offers may be required before detailed negotiations begin with one or more prospective bidders.

First-round bidders were required to submit an indicative price offer for the bank and a business plan on how they proposed to run the operation. For Irish Intercontinental Bank ICC would make a good business fit and would involve little or no business or staffing overlap.

IIB has flagged its interest in expanding into the small and medium-sized business market for some time.

The bank is already significant in the large end of the business market. The difference between the two ends of the market is defined by the scale of funding and the range of services required by customers.

In addition IIB has no venture capital business in the Irish market while its parent has a large venture capital operation and would be interested in developing this business in the Irish market. IIB is understood to have appointed investment banks JP Morgan as advisers to the sale.

Bank of Ireland, with surplus capital to invest, is seen as a strong and determined contender. But after the adverse market reaction to its attempted Alliance and Leicester merger plan, the bank will have to ensure that it can justify the price it would be prepared to pay for ICC, especially if it cannot get cost savings from merging the ICC operation with its existing small and medium-sized business service.

ICC board has indicated that it would like the operation to remain as a stand-alone institution with a strong parent to facilitate its expansion. Bank of Scotland's bid is aimed at expanding its operations in the Irish market where it already owns Equity Bank. Bank of Scotland is involved in a wide range of banking activities including personal and corporate lending, personal financial services and merchant banking.

The bulk of its operations are UK-based and the bank has a growing presence in Australia.

Equity Bank reported pre-tax profits of £6.1 million in the year to end February, up 47 per cent. It focuses on corporate lending to the small and medium business sector and consumer lending.

DNIB is based in Amsterdam and is 50.3 per cent State owned. Other institutions which decided not to bid for ICC include Ulster Bank, which said in a statement it had decided "not to pursue the tender process".

Irish Life and Permanent was initially interested in ICC but recently ruled itself out of the race. Anglo Irish Bank ruled out a bid some time ago because, according to chief executive Mr Sean Fitzpatrick, it would be difficult to justify in terms of increasing shareholder value.