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

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

Mr McDonagh was speaking to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform.  

“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 said the Agency’s strong financial performance of 2011 has continued into 2012.

Mr McDonagh also said:

• The Agency has approved new credit facilities for working and development capital of €1.6 billion by end September, reflecting the Agency’s commitment to invest in assets where it makes commercial sense to do so.
• Total sales approved by NAMA stand at €10.5 billion.
• The Agency has succeeded in obtaining fresh security worth €514 million on its loans, through a combination of securing charges on previously unencumbered assets and the reversal of earlier asset transfers by debtors.
• 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. Full disclosure is a statutory requirement.
• Since NAMA was set up, 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 successfully rented and which generate annual rents of €100 million.
• 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 €9.7 million, with a further €3.4 million currently under review. Of 271 applications for rent abatements, just 4 were refused. A further 9 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. 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 the Agency 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. However, some of the suggestions which have been made about the potential damage to our work have been exaggerated, to say the least”, said Mr Daly.

“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”, he said.

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