Nama reports €9.5bn generated from asset disposals and loan repayments

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has today stated that the total cash generated from asset disposals and loan repayments now stands at €9.5bn – up from €8bn at the end of June.

Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh said the agency’s cash receipts, up to mid-October, include €6.2bn from asset disposals and €3.3bn from recurring income such as rental payments on debtors’ properties and intensive management of assets securing the Agency’s loans.

Speaking to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr McDonagh said:

“Perhaps the most important measure of Nama’s performance is cash-flow generation and this remains very strong,” said Mr McDonagh. “The strong cash performance has enabled us to remain firmly on course to meet our debt repayment targets”.

Mr McDonagh also said that the agency has approved new credit facilities for working and development capital of €1.6bn by end September.

Total sales approved by Nama now stand at €10.5bn.

The agency has referred two cases to the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation arising from a suspected failure by debtors to fully disclose their assets and liabilities.

Since Nama was established, tenants have been sourced for 4,000 apartments that were previously vacant.

The agency’s portfolio now includes almost 10,000 apartments that are being rented, generating annual rents of €100m.

The agency has approved 206 requests for rent abatements from businesses that need support to ease pressures on cashflow, with 52 more requests being reviewed.

Total rent savings to date from this process equate to approximately €9.7m, with a further €3.4m currently under review.

Of 271 applications for rent abatements, four were refused. A further nine were ineligible as they did not relate to Nama properties.

It is proposed that the first Qualifying Investor Fund (QIF) will be launched by the Board of the QIF before the end of the year. It is hoped that this will create a new vehicle that will help to attract international investor interest in Ireland and generate cash from the Agency’s loan portfolio.

Nama chairman Frank Daly also told the Committee that Nama will publish details of a report by Deloitte into a property transaction involving a former employee of the agency, Mr Enda Farrell, as soon as Nama receives legal clearance to do so.

Mr Daly said the Nama board had accepted all of the recommendations included in the report, which was commissioned earlier this year.

Mr Daly also said Nama regards the unauthorised removal of confidential data from the agency “with the utmost concern” but that the agency’s security processes are extremely robust.

“I don’t for a moment underestimate the seriousness of this episode for the agency and for our reputation,” said Mr Daly.

“However, some of the suggestions which have been made about the potential damage to our work have been exaggerated, to say the least.

“Insofar as information, which in our assessment would be of limited value to potential counterparties, may have found its way to third parties, it is our best judgement at this stage of our investigation that it has not been used thus far to the detriment of the agency and that it is unlikely to prove commercially damaging to the agency at any point in the future.

“We are also reasonably satisfied at this stage that it has not been prejudicial to any of our debtors and it remains our objective to ensure that this continues to be the case.”