Nama to finalise sale of O’Flynn loan portfolio

Nama will this week finalise its biggest asset sale to date — the Project Tower loan portfolio, connected with the Cork-based developer Michael O’Flynn.

Nama yesterday confirmed global investment firm Blackstone Real Estate as the buyer of the loan portfolio.

The investor had reportedly been involved in a three-way battle for the portfolio with US private equity house Lone Star and hedge fund manager Davidson Kempner.

Project Tower relates to loans secured on assets in Ireland, Britain, and Germany under the control of the O’Flynn Group, best known for Cork’s 17-storey Elysian Tower property.

The loan portfolio has a par value of €1.8bn. While Nama did not disclose the terms of the transaction — saying they are commercially sensitive — it said it expects the deal to be completed this week.

However, it has been mooted that Blackstone is paying around €1.1bn for the portfolio.

Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh expressed his pleasure in completing the sale of the O’Flynn loan portfolio. He said the transaction provides “further evidence of the current and continued strong investor appetite for real estate assets and property-related loans in Ireland and in other jurisdictions to which Nama has a significant exposure”.

Michael O’Flynn said the sale will assist his business “in responding to the opportunities we see in our markets in Ireland, the UK, and Europe”.

“In the Irish market, in particular, there is a need for strong players in the property sector to address acute supply issues,” he said, adding that “it has always been our ambition, since the transfer of our loans to Nama in 2010, to fully co-operate and exit Nama at an appropriate time”.