Five things we learned from PAC’s Nama hearing

*Unsuccessful bidder, US fund manager, Pimco was prepared to split £15 million (€21 million) between Belfast solicitors, Tughans, New York lawyers, Brown and Rudnick and former Nama committee member, Frank Cushnahan, if it won the race to buy the State agency's Northern Ireland loan book. Cushnahan was set to get £5 million of this.

*Cushnahan resigned from Nama's Northern Ireland Advisory Committee in November 2013. His relationship with Pimco led to the fund withdrawing from the auction of the loans in March 2014. However, while the fund says it left voluntarily, Nama chairman, Frank Daly, told the Dáil's Committee on Public Accounts that the company actually wanted to remain in the process.

*Brown and Rudnick originally wrote to the north's then finance minister, Sammy Wilson, in mid 2013 saying that it had clients who were interested in buying the loan book. He then passed this on to the Republic's Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, who referred him to Nama. Brown and Rudnick approached Nama on Pimco's behalf in September 2013.

*Nama's board agreed to offer the entire loan book, which had a face value of €5.7 billion, on the open market in December 2013. The following month it hired property dealers Lazards as its agent. It also settled on a reserve price of €1.3 billion for the loans, which were secured against properties in the north, Republic, Britain and elsewhere.

*Brown and Rudnick and Tughans ended up advising the successful bidder, Cerberus, which paid €1.6 billion for the loans, leaving Nama with loss of €280 million. Agency chairman, Frank Daly, says that it is not concerned that Cerberus hired some of the same advisers as Pimco, and was only interested in ensuring that Cushnahan had no role in the deal. The agency says that it got the best return possible for the taxpayer.

The context: The PAC is investigating claims that almost €10 million (£7 million) in an offshore account was intended as a payment to a Northern Ireland politician in association with the Nama sale of its Northern Ireland loans.

The State agency sold €5.7 billion worth of property loans in Northern Ireland for €1.6 billion - a 72 per cent discount - to US investment fund Cerberus following an auction dubbed Project Eagle in 2014.

Last week, Independent TD Mick Wallace claimed €9.8 million discovered in an Isle of Man account during an audit of Belfast law firm Tughans, which was involved in Project Eagle, was destined for a Northern Ireland politician.