LONDON (Reuters) - Buyout firm Blackstone Group (>> Blackstone Group LP) and insurer Prudential (>> Prudential plc) are the preferred bidders for about 12.5 billion pounds in mortgages made by failed British lender Bradford & Bingley, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Bradford & Bingley, a buy-to-let mortgage provider bailed out by the British government during the financial crisis, is now owned by government vehicle UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) which declined to comment because of the contractual obligation of confidentiality.

Spokesmen for Blackstone and Prudential also declined to comment on the report which was first published by Bloomberg.

The person said Blackstone would take a majority of the mortgages, which are being repaid, while Prudential takes a minority.

Bradford & Bingley is being run by UK Asset Resolution with the aim of winding it down. It is not writing any new business.

UKAR said in 2016 it would sell Bradford & Bingley's 15.65 billion pound mortgage portfolio, which also includes around 3 billion pounds in non-performing loans, in two or three transactions, as it seeks a speedier repayment of taxpayers' money.

Terms of the sale were not known and the person said any announcement was weeks away.

($1 = 0.8056 pounds)

(Reporting by Dasha Afanasieva, Andrew MacAskill and Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Ruth Pitchford/Rachel Armstrong)

Stocks treated in this article : Blackstone Group LP, Prudential plc