The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has approved the injection of €506 million into the Irish economy through working and development capital advances to debtors, the Agency’s Chief Executive said today.

Speaking to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform¹, Brendan McDonagh said the Agency’s advances represent a significant injection of capital into the construction sector and wider economy.

“We anticipate that there will be significant opportunity in the coming years to advance further working and development capital in respect of the Irish market”, said Mr McDonagh.

NAMA Chairman Frank Daly told the Committee that approximately 9,500 people are employed in Ireland by NAMA debtor companies.

The Agency is conscious of the need to work with debtors wherever possible to maximise the amount of money recoverable for the taxpayer and support these jobs, he said. Mr Daly added that the majority of debtors were working constructively with the Agency.

Mr McDonagh also told the Committee that:

• NAMA has approved total working and development capital advances of €1.1 billion, of which €506 million relates to Ireland. Ireland accounts for 56% of total assets linked to NAMA loans.
• NAMA is currently generating 80% of its cashflow from Britain, reflecting the more favourable liquidity environment in the British market and the location and quality of assets linked to NAMA loans there.
• Most of the Agency’s Irish portfolio relates to properties in the greater Dublin area. The value of property assets underlying NAMA’s Irish loans is approximately €18 billion, of which approximately €11 billion is located in Dublin and surrounding counties.

Mr McDonagh also said the NAMA Board had decided to establish dedicated teams comprising 15 existing NAMA staff, which will monitor and supervise the management of the 599 debtors with loans totalling €5 billion which are not directly managed by NAMA but are managed on the Agency’s behalf by approximately 500 staff within Bank of Ireland, AIB and Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.

“The teams concerned will be situated within the institutions and will ensure that the highest standards are applied by the institutions to the management of the €5 billion NAMA debt which is involved”, he said.

The Committee was also told that the Agency is pursuing a number of its largest debtors to reverse transfers of assets to family members and connected parties.

Mr McDonagh said a number of debtors were being pursued through the courts and that the Agency was also carrying out detailed asset searches to establish if other asset transfers had not been disclosed to the Agency by debtors.

The Agency has already succeeded in reversing similar transfers totalling €160 million from 31 debtors. The largest single debtor asset transfer reversed was worth €30 million.

In addition to the asset transfer reversals, the Agency has been granted charges over assets with an aggregate value of €221 million in new security.

The combined value of new charges over assets and reversal of asset transfers is likely to be close to €500 million. “This further protects the position of taxpayers”, said Mr McDonagh.

¹ The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform is an all-party committee whose membership includes TDs and Senators.

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