Nama pays out ‘bonanza’ of €55m to receivers

The property crash has resulted in a €55m bonanza for a number of accountancy firms overseeing Nama receiverships.

Figures provided by the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan show one firm, Grant Thornton has received €10.1m in fees from Nama as a result of its receivership work.

The firm has been the big winner in the payout from Nama’s receivership work after securing 35 appointments. Out of a total of 210 receivership appointments, 10 firms have received €55.2m from the agency since its inception.

The figures were provided in a written Dáil response to Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath. Mr McGrath yesterday described the fees as “truly extraordinary”.

In his reply, Mr Noonan said: “I have been advised by Nama that fees agreed with appointed receivers have ranged from €625 to €1.29m.”

Since 2010, Nama has appointed Grant Thornton over assets that were owned by some of its high-profile debtors including Harry Crosbie and Sean Dunne. Grant Thornton received almost €2m more than the second-ranked firm, KPMG that received €8.12m for its 37 Nama receiverships.

Mr Noonan confirmed that Duff and Phelps, formerly RSM Farrell Grant Sparks, received €6.35m for 25 receiverships.

Other firms to receive over €5m for receivership work include Mazars which received €5.94m arising from 22 appointments and PwC which received €5.65m for 14 receiverships.

Deloitte received €4.9m for 24 appointments; Baker Tilly UK received €4.9m for five appointments and Ernst & Young received €4m for 14 appointments. BDO received €2.79m for to 20 appointments and Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon received €2.65m for 14 appointments.

In his written Dáil reply, Mr Noonan confirmed last year Nama paid out €1.8m to receivers over 71 appointments. This followed a pay-out of €3.6m in 2013 concerning 101 appointments. Last year, Mazars got the highest sum for receivership work at €318,552 with Crowe Horwath receiving the second highest amount at €176,611 with BDO receiving €166,792.

Mr McGrath said: “ The receivers do have a difficult job to do in trying to salvage the maximum return for the taxpayers but the fees involved are truly extraordinary.”