The British government will announce on Monday it has agreed a deal to sell off a portfolio of student loans worth 900 million pounds, Sky News reported on Sunday, quoting people close to the situation.

The loans will be offloaded to an unnamed private debt collection agency, the broadcaster said, saying they would be sold for tens of millions of pounds, "a fraction of the debts' face value".

The deal would encompass mortgage-style loans made in the 1990s, the last of their kind still in public ownership, Sky said, but not include income contingent repayment loans of the kind currently on offer.

The sell-off is part of a government drive to ultimately sell the entire outstanding student loan book, which has a face value of roughly 40 billion pounds, Sky said.

A spokeswoman for Britain's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which is handling the sale, confirmed it would be making an announcement about a sell-off on Monday morning, but said she couldn't disclose any details.