NAMA prepared to pursue more developers through courts

NAMA says further court action against builders failing to co-operate with the agency are likely before the end of the year.

NAMA Chief Brendan McDonagh this morning told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform that the vast majority of builders are co-operating with the agency which is managing the portfolios of 850 debtors.

However receivers have been appointed in the case of 84 developers to date.

And Mr McDonagh told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that further action is likely over the coming months.

Mr McDonagh also confirmed that NAMA has now approved the sale of property assets valued at some €4.6bn and has reached conclusions on whether to acquire final outstanding loans to a value of €2.6bn. The agency will be communicating its decisions to relevant debtors in the coming week.

Speaking on progress at the agency, Chairman Frank Daly said: “We have generated €3.5bn in cash from our acquired loan assets. We have reduced our debt by over €1bn by redeeming €750m in NAMA Bonds and repaying €299m of advances received from the Minister for Finance. We plan to make substantial additional NAMA debt redemptions before the end of the year.”

Mr Daly also addressed criticisms of the agency for an alleged lack of transparency.

“It seems to me that NAMA can be a fully commercial operation focused on maximising the return to the taxpayer or it can be a fully transparent public body but it is difficult to see how we can be both,” he said, insisting however that the agency is committed to full accountability in accordance with the law.