Nama cannot say how much rent being paid to debtors

THE NATIONAL Asset Management Agency cannot say how much rent is being paid by Government departments, State agencies or public bodies to its debtors but says the amount involved is not believed to be significant.

In reply to a parliamentary question, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said Nama could not readily identify the type of client paying rental income to debtors.

“However, the amount of rental income being paid to Nama debtors by State agencies is not thought to be substantial,” the Minister told Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath.

Mr Noonan said Nama estimated that 12 per cent of loans on the agency’s books generated some income in addition to the 21 per cent of the loan portfolio categorised as fully performing. Nama receives income on 33 per cent of the agency’s loan portfolio, representing a nominal value of €23.5 billion of the agency’s €71.2 billion face-value loan book.

The agency estimates that 21 per cent of the loan portfolio, representing a face value of €15 billion, was performing fully in line with contractual obligations. An additional 12 per cent of the loan portfolio, with a nominal value of €8.5 million, “generate some income but not sufficient to meet fully their contractual obligations as per loan agreements”. Fully performing loans fell to 21 per cent of loans in September 2011, from 23 per cent three months earlier.

Nama had been “working to capture as much of the underlying rental income generated by assets as possible”, Mr Noonan added.