Nama has sold €1.6bn worth of property assets since March

SOME €1.6 billion worth of property assets have been sold since March under the direction of the National Assets Management Agency (Nama), the chairman of the agency said yesterday.

In an update yesterday on the progress of the agency, Nama chairman Frank Daly said the proceeds of the sales had been used by developers to pay down debts to the agency and to the relevant banks.

Some of the funds are also being used to pay down debt owed by borrowers to non-Nama banks where they had co-lent on relevant developments.

The agency also revealed yesterday that a number of developers had attempted to move up to €130 million worth of loans destined for Nama into other entities in order to prevent their transfer into the agency.

Nama has since halted this practice, with the developers involved reversing any such moves that have already taken place.

Yesterday, Nama confirmed that, to date, 11,000 loans with a total nominal value of € 71.2 billion have been acquired by the agency.

The agency has issued bonds with a total value of € 30.2 billion in exchange for the loans, representing an aggregate discount of 58 per cent.

The five institutions involved are Bank of Ireland, AIB, Anglo Irish Bank, EBS and Irish Nationwide.

While the 11,000 loans so far are held by 850 debtors, the top 30 developers are responsible for 38 per cent, or € 27 billion, of the original value of the loans.

The agency said it has now concluded its review of the business plans of these top 30 developers.

According to the update, the EU has now approved the valuations of 43 per cent of the loans that have been acquired by the agency.

In addition, Nama has completed individual due diligence and valuation on another 17 per cent.

The remainder will be subject to “full due diligence and valued on a case-by-case basis” during the coming months, the agency said, with any over/underpayment to the relevant institution calculated and adjusted at that time.

Meanwhile, AIB yesterday confirmed that it had transferred an additional €9.3 billion in loans to Nama, at an aggregate discount of 59 per cent.

The latest tranche transferred by the bank covers the loans of 217 customers and brings to €18.5 billion the total sum transferred by the bank to Nama.

A spokeswoman for the bank said the bank did not yet know how many more loans would be transferred to Nama.