Adviser: Nama should be partially sold

One of the original minds behind Nama has said the body should be partially sold as it is not achieving its potential and faces “a major challenge” in recovering its outlay on loan assets.

Peter Bacon — who drew up a blueprint for the agency in 2009 and was appointed an adviser to it the following year — yesterday suggested the partial privatisation of Nama as a way of improving its returns to the taxpayer.

Selling a stake to a private equity investor or listing it on an international stock exchange could, he said, help, as Nama currently “lacks the potential that capital market sophistication could bring to bear”.