‘Nama to lose out on Battersea sale’

Chelsea football club aren’t the only losers in the sale of Battersea Power Station, with Treasury Holdings claiming Nama will lose out on nearly €500 million in potential fees due to the deal agreed with Malaysian company SP Setia Bhd.

Treasury Holdings said the deal agreed by NAMA is a lost opportunity for the Irish taxpayer to share in a €500 million development and the profits that would have come from it.

“This outcome is vastly inferior to the proposed deal put on the table in 2011, also involving SP Setia Bhd, which in addition to full repayment of the loan had agreed a 10-year management contract with Treasury Holdings involving a 10% share of the profits from the scheme. Neither Treasury nor NAMA will now share in the €500 million of potential fees and the substantial profits generated by the development of Battersea Power Station which would have gone to Treasury Holdings, and would have ultimately gone to pay down debt owed to NAMA,” a spokesperson for Treasury Holdings told Bloomberg News.

The Malaysian buyers plan to renovate the derelict 38-acre (15-hectare) site and retain the power plant’s iconic chimney stacks and to build a subway station as an extension to London Underground’s Northern Line on the site.

London School of Economics and Political Science research director Tony Travers said that the site has defeated all developers who have tried so far.

“It’s a well located site in a relatively affluent part of London. It ought to work as a major location both for residential and business property. It’s just that hitherto it’s defeated all of the developers who’ve tried,” he said.

Chelsea Football Club said they were disappointed not to be selected as the preferred bidders for the site.