Press Statement - NAMA completes final investor payment before €2bn transfer to Exchequer
NAMA completes final investor payment before €2bn transfer to Exchequer
€56m payment eliminates final outstanding investor obligation and gives State 100pc ownership of special purpose vehicle
- The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has today completed the final investor payment required before it transfers €2bn of its expected €4 billion surplus to the Exchequer.
- Today’s €56m payment eliminates NAMA’s final outstanding investor obligation and increases the State’s stake in the special purpose vehicle that owns the NAMA Group entities from 49pc to 100pc.
- The Special Purpose Vehicle (National Asset Management Agency Investment DAC, “NAMAI”) was previously 51pc owned by a range of private investors. This ownership structure, set out in the NAMA Act and approved by the European Commission, was designed to ensure that NAMA’s liabilities (€31.8bn at peak) would be considered outside of the Government sector.
Background to NAMA special purpose vehicle
- NAMAI, a subsidiary of NAMA, issued €100m in share capital in 2010. A number of private investors invested a total of €51m in NAMAI to acquire a combined shareholding of 51pc. NAMA invested €49m to acquire a 49pc shareholding. Under an agreement between the shareholders, NAMA had the power to veto decisions taken by the NAMAI entity.
- NAMA has today exercised an option it was granted under the shareholders’ agreement to purchase the private investors’ 51pc shareholding for €56.1m (the original investment €51m plus an investment return of €5.1m, which was capped under the shareholders’ agreement at a maximum of 10pc of the amount invested).
- Today’s transaction paves the way for NAMA to transfer the first €2bn of its surplus to the Exchequer, as NAMA now has 100pc control of NAMAI and the NAMA Group is now wholly owned by the Minister for Finance.
NAMA Chairman, Aidan Williams, and CEO, Brendan McDonagh said:
“This is an important step which will allow us to transfer the first €2bn of NAMA’s lifetime surplus to the Exchequer, providing the State with a valuable and large source of funds at this critical time.
Today’s transaction highlights the progress NAMA has made over the past decade in eliminating the €31.8bn contingent liability on the State and in generating the cash needed to repay all its outstanding debt and equity obligations and to deliver a substantial surplus for the Exchequer.”
Notes to Editor:
- National Asset Management Agency Investment D.A.C. (NAMAI) was incorporated on 27 January 2010 as the company through which private investors invested in the NAMA Group.
- NAMAI issued €100m in share capital, in which NAMA invested €49m, receiving 49 million A ordinary shares. The remaining €51m was invested in NAMAI by private investors, each receiving an equal share of 51 million B ordinary shares. The original private investors in NAMAI were vehicles linked to AIB Investment Managers, New Ireland Assurance and Irish Life Investment Managers. Following a series of changes to the ownership of these shareholdings since 2010, the main private shareholders in NAMAI prior to today’s transaction were New Ireland Assurance, BNY Custodial Nominees (Ireland) Ltd, The Representative Church Body and The Church of Ireland Clergy Pensions Fund.