NAMA’s hotel loans net €800m

THE National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has sold the combined loans of three prestigious London hotels previously owned by Irish investors for more than €800 million.

The deal — NAMA’s largest single asset sale to date — technically keeps the agency on course to sell €7.5 billion worth of assets by the end of 2013. To date, the agency has approved asset sales of €4.6bn, although some of these are shared assets with AIB and Ulster Bank and not all have gone through as yet. A NAMA spokesperson said the agency is “well on the way” to reach its sales target.

In a statement, NAMA said that it sold the latest loans — held by Claridge’s, the Connaught and the Berkeley; which were purchased by a consortium of Irish investors, led by Derek Quinlan in 2005 — to Maybourne Finance Ltd — a vehicle owned by the Barclay brothers.