Rising demand sees Nama prepare to offload €300m of property loans

Nama is preparing to sell about €300m of property loans as demand from overseas buyers rises, three people with knowledge of the plan said.

The loans are linked to properties built by Dublin-based developer McGarrell Reilly Group and will be sold at a discount, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the matter is private.

Ray Gordon, a Nama spokesman who works for public relations firm Gordon MRM, and Sean Reilly, executive chairman of McGarrell Reilly, declined to comment.

International investors have been buying property and loans backing real estate in Dublin as returns rebound following Ireland’s property crash.

Overseas investors bought about 70% of the €545m of income-producing property sold in Ireland last year, compared with little or none in 2007, according to CBRE Group.

McGarrell Reilly’s developments include The Watermarque office building near Google’s European headquarters and the Iveagh Court office complex in Dublin’s central business district, according to its website.

The Irish Independent reported in May that Reilly was trying to buy back the loans at a discount from Nama without saying where it got the information.

Nama was set up in 2009 by the government to take over €74bn of risky commercial real estate loans held by Ireland’s banks and sell them over as many as 10 years.