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The sale marks one of the biggest since the downturn in U.S. commercial real estate four years ago.

It attracted more than two dozen buyers, said a source who was not authorized to speak on the record. The total price paid for all the loans was between $7 billion and $8 billion, the source said.

To attract a large pool of potential buyers, the portfolio was broken into eight separate pools according to the performance of the loans and the length to maturity.

The first three pools contained performing loans. JPMorgan was the winner of the first tranche comprising loans with a balance of about $1 billion to $1.5 billion, the source said.

Wells Fargo won the second and third tranches valued at about $3 billion to $3.5 billion, the source said. Wells Fargo recently bought a $1.4 billion performing loan portfolio from the failed Bank of Ireland for about par, another source said.

Global distressed debt and equity investor Lone Star won the remaining five pools of sub-performing and non-performing loans. The five pools have a face value of about $5 billion.

Those loans, which could lead to the buyer either getting the property or restructuring the loans, had attracted other private equity firms, such as TPG Capital LP and Blackstone Group LP.

The winners were notified Thursday night, another source said. Bloomberg first reported the story.

The sales are expected to close in October.

The pools have also been split along the lines of real estate types -- hotels, apartments, condominiums, offices and warehouses, according to an information sheet obtained by Reuters.

Anglo Irish and a spokesman for JPMorgan declined to comment. Representatives from Loan Star and Wells Fargo could not be reached for comment.

Other bidders who were either part of the first or second round of bids included Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, Vornado Realty Trust, Starwood Capital, and Torchlight Investors, an independent adviser focused on commercial real estate debt investments.

Anglo Irish was one of the most aggressive lenders during the U.S. commercial real estate boom of 2003-2007, but its risk strategy brought it and the Irish economy to the brink of collapse and forced Dublin to seek an 85 billion euros EU-IMF bailout last year.

Once the darling of the Irish stock market, Anglo Irish was nationalized in 2009 and is being wound down, after selling its deposits to former rivals and having ceased lending.

Its U.S. portfolio is its premium stock of assets, and a successful sale would represent a huge boost for the Irish government, which has vowed to radically shrink its banking sector and reduce its reliance on emergency funding from the European Central Bank (ECB).

The loans to be sold are secured by a diverse group of more than 280 properties, including office buildings in Massachusetts and retail properties in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

It also includes apartment buildings in New York City and Boston, warehouses and gas stations in the Midwest, and hotels from Florida to Maine.

(Additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins an Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)

Traders juggling European debt worries and soft economic data are assessing the impact of the storm, which knocked out subway and train services across the New York City metropolitan area, issues that may not be resolved by the start of work on Monday.

Though the storm itself wasn't expected to be a factor in broader market direction on Monday -- though many analysts forecast pressure on insurance and transportation-related stocks -- there could be some impact as transportation issues leave many offices short-staffed.

"If anything, this will just result in lessened volume," said Randy Billhardt, head of institutional sales and trading at MLV & Co in New York.

"We don't want to put anyone in danger, so getting in will be based on each person's level of comfort and their ability to get into the city," he said. "Since this is usually a quiet week for markets, I won't push anyone to do anything out of their comfort zone."

Lighter volume could leave equities susceptible to heightened volatility, especially given the persisting issues related to Europe and the upcoming U.S. nonfarm payroll report.

The unusually large storm traveled up the U.S. East Coast Friday through Sunday, threatening 55 million people, and was expected to cause billions of dollars in property damage as it continued to barrel north toward eastern Canada as a tropical storm.

The New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Stock Market and the alternative BATS venue said they will start the week as usual.

With the hurricane mostly out of the way, the focus may shift from the Federal Reserve's economic outlook to the August U.S. payrolls report Friday.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a much anticipated speech to central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday said most of the burden for ensuring a solid foundation for long-term growth lay at the feet of the White House and the U.S. Congress.

President Barack Obama is expected to detail plans to create jobs after he returns from vacation the week after next. Investors will have a few days to position themselves ahead of Obama's speech, with the key payrolls report for August due Friday.

"This was clearly a punt from Bernanke to Obama, who will announce a jobs initiative soon," said Lance Roberts, CEO of Streettalk Advisors, an investment management firm in Houston. "The market thinks we may now get stimulus from the government."

THE WHITE KNIGHT: TRICHET?

In a move opposite to Bernanke's baton-handing to Washington, some say stocks may find a white knight in the European Central Bank's head Jean-Claude Trichet.

Some hoped that his comments during a panel at Jackson Hole Saturday would open the door for the ECB to buy more bonds from countries struggling with rising borrowing costs.

News this month that the ECB was actively buying government bonds in the secondary market boosted equities by giving some relief to investors worried about the credit and fiscal health of the euro zone.

"I'm going to see if (Trichet) is standing by that policy or shying away from it," said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

"If he stands by it, that could be a positive for the equities markets because it's going to suggest that if anything, the ECB will try to step in to handle liquidity problems in the European banking system and they don't have to just rely on the European Union leaders."

Recent concern over the exposure of some European banks to the declining prices of euro-zone bonds pushed lenders' shares sharply lower, with an index of European bank stocks closing lower Friday for a fifth straight week. The long slide has resulted in European bank shares losing more than one-fourth of their market value.

AN UGLY AUGUST

August is shaping up as the worst month for stocks since February 2009, partly on the belief that the U.S. economy was headed for a double-dip recession.

For the month so far, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 7.1 percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index is down 8.9 percent. The Nasdaq Composite Index is down 10 percent, still in correction mode. Those losses for August so far threaten to overshadow the bright spot at Friday's close, when all three indexes ended the day higher and scored their first weekly gains in more than a month.

The payrolls report Friday is expected to show the U.S. economy created 80,000 jobs this month, according to economists polled by Reuters. In contrast, 117,000 jobs were added to U.S. nonfarm payrolls in July.

The U.S. unemployment rate is seen steady at 9.1 percent.

Wall Street will have to deal with a torrent of data throughout the week, including personal income and consumption Monday, S&P/Case-Shiller home prices Tuesday, factory orders Wednesday and the Institute for Supply Management's factory activity index Thursday, before Friday's payrolls report.

A Reuters poll forecasts that ISM's August survey is expected to show factory activity shrank for the first time since the recession.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer, Edward Krudy and Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jan Paschal and James Dalgleish)

Traders juggling European debt worries and soft economic data are now staring at satellite images, tracking the path of Hurricane Irene, expected to hit New York over the weekend.

The unusually large storm traveled up the U.S. East Coast on Friday, threatening 55 million people, and was expected to cause billions of dollars in property damage.

Major U.S. exchanges are preparing to deal with power outages and flooding, and that could affect trading on Monday.

For now at least, the NYSE and Nasdaq expect to be open for trading as usual on Monday morning. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq repeated on Saturday that, despite the arrival of Hurricane Irene in New York, both expect to conduct a normal trading session on Monday.

The Big Board said a final decision would be made over the weekend, particularly on its trading floor in the low-lying financial district of Manhattan, which could see a storm surge and flooding.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and exchange officials will discuss the storm's impact and plans for opening trading at the start of the week in a conference call on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., according to a source familiar with the plan.

One senior trader at a proprietary trading firm in New York said Friday that Hurricane Irene had destroyed any chance of a rally that had looked likely, given the extent of short positions that had been building in equity markets.

"If this hurricane is a disaster, my guess is we are going to be down 30-40 handles on Monday," he said.

Property insurers Allstate (ALL.N) and Travelers (TRV.N) hit two-year intraday lows on Friday, partly on worries over claims due to the hurricane.

"We intend to be open, but Mother Nature may have other plans," said Lou Pastina, executive vice president of NYSE operations.

After that, the focus may shift from the Federal Reserve's economic outlook to the August payrolls report on Friday.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a much anticipated speech to central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, said most of the burden for ensuring a solid foundation for long-term growth lay at the feet of the White House and the U.S. Congress.

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to detail plans to create jobs after he returns from vacation the week after next. Investors will have a few days to position themselves ahead of Obama's speech, with the key payrolls report for August due Friday.

"This was clearly a punt from Bernanke to Obama, who will announce a jobs initiative soon," said Lance Roberts, CEO of Streettalk Advisors, an investment management firm in Houston. "The market thinks we may now get stimulus from the government."

THE WHITE KNIGHT: TRICHET?

In a move opposite to Bernanke's baton-handing to Washington, some say stocks may find a white knight in the European Central Bank's head Jean-Claude Trichet.

Some hoped that his comments, during a panel at Jackson Hole on Saturday, would open the door for the ECB to buy more bonds from countries struggling with rising borrowing costs.

News earlier this month that the ECB was actively buying government bonds in the secondary market boosted equities by giving some relief to investors worried about the credit and fiscal health of the euro zone.

"I'm going to see if (Trichet) is standing by that policy or shying away from it," said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

"If he stands by it, that could be a positive for the equities markets because it's going to suggest that if anything, the ECB will try to step in to handle liquidity problems on the European banking system and they don't have to just rely on the European Union leaders."

Recent concern over the exposure of some European banks to the declining prices of euro-zone bonds pushed lenders' shares

sharply lower, with an index of European bank stocks .SX7P closing lower on Friday for a fifth straight week. The long slide has resulted in European bank shares losing more than one-fourth of their market value.

AN UGLY AUGUST

August is shaping up as the worst month for stocks since February 2009, partly on the belief that the economy was headed for a double-dip recession.

For the month so far, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI is down 7.1 pct, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX is down 8.9 percent. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC is down 10 percent, still in correction mode. Those losses for August so far threaten to overshadow the bright spot at Friday's close, when all three indexes ended the day higher and scored their first weekly gains in more than a month.

The payrolls report on Friday is expected to show the U.S. economy created 80,000 jobs this month, according to economists polled by Reuters. In contrast, 117,000 jobs were added to U.S. non-farm payrolls in July.

The U.S. unemployment rate is seen steady at 9.1 percent.

Wall Street will have to deal with a torrent of data throughout the week, including personal income and consumption on Monday, S&P/Case-Shiller home prices on Tuesday, factory orders on Wednesday and the Institute for Supply Management's factory activity index on Thursday. <ECI/US>

A Reuters poll forecasts that ISM's August survey is expected to show factory activity shrank for the first time since the recession.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer, Edward Krudy and Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jan Paschal)

The New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Stock Market and the alternative BATS venue said they expected to open trading for the week as usual. But with the New York subway system closed down and commuter rail service into the city suspended, the question remains: who will staff Wall Street?

A final decision is expected later on Sunday after regulators, exchange officials and others meet to discuss the storm and market operations. The decision hinges on whether subways are running, the extent of flooding in downtown Manhattan, and power outages, sources familiar with the plan said on Sunday.

The NYSE and broader U.S. marketplace are mostly automated, quietly running out of powerful data centers in New Jersey and elsewhere. Electronic trading is expected to function normally on Monday.

"At this point, though like everybody else we don't have a hotline into the mayor's office, we're a lot more comfortable than we were yesterday when the strength of the storm was an unknown," said Mike Shea, a managing partner and trader with Direct Access Partners LLC in New York.

Shea's firm has a presence on the NYSE floor, and in Boston and Miami. He said that virtually all of his firm's traders could function from home.

Hurricane Irene battered New York with heavy winds and driving rain on Sunday, knocking out power and flooding some of Manhattan's deserted streets, including in the Wall Street district.

Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm on Sunday morning but was still sending waves crashing onto shorelines and flooding coastal areas.

There was about a foot of water in the streets of the South Street Seaport in downtown Manhattan, although there was less damage than many had feared.

The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), a few blocks from the NYSE, also plans at this time to open on Monday, parent CME Group Inc (CME.O) said on Sunday.

Any decision to halt U.S. equity trading, or even a portion of it such as the NYSE floor, would involve the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and major market operators NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) and Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ.O).

The NYSE trading floor now handles a fraction of the buy and sell orders that it did five years ago, when about 3,000 brokers, specialists and others worked there.

There are now about 1,000 on the floor, and Lou Pastina, executive vice president of NYSE operations, has estimated the Big Board would need half of them to safely open on Monday. Floor specialists are still important, particularly at the open and close of markets, when orders pile up.

(Writing by Chris Sanders; Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica and David Sheppard)