Nama lends €384m to allow developers build out projects

The National Asset Management Agency lent €384 million to borrowers for ongoing projects during the nine months to September 30th, the latest figures show.

Nama said on Wednesday that it made a profit of €242 million in the third quarter of last year, about 30 per cent of the €795 million surplus it earned during the same period in 2016.

The fall in profit was mainly down to the fact that the agency has slowed the rate at which it has been selling loans and properties, as it works through the debts it bought from the Irish banks for €31.8 billion in 2010.

The agency’s accounts show that it advanced €158.25 million to debtors during the third quarter of last year and a total of €384 million during the first nine months of 2017.

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Nama funds residential and commercial building by developers who owe it money. Its original remit allows it to lend cash to clients where it is likely to aid them in repaying their debts and delivering a return to the State.

Ruling

Last week, the European Commission ruled against a complaint by a group of developers that allowing Nama to fund building amounted to illegal State aid, as the agency can borrow cash at interest rates far lower than private-sector financiers can obtain.

The State body is backing several projects in Dublin docklands special development zone, 22 hectares of sites along the quays on both sides of the river Liffey.

At this stage, it and its borrowers are on track to build 1,700 homes and 3.6 million square feet of office space. Clients involved in the docklands zone include Seán Mulryan's Ballymore.

Nama generated €1.8 billion in cash over the first nine months of last year, compared with €4.3 billion in the January to September period in 2016.

The figures published on Wednesday show that it has generated €40 billion in cash since it was founded.

Nama repaid the last of its €30.2 billion senior debt last year, clearing this liability from the State’s national debt.

The value of the remaining loans due to the agency from developers stood at €3.7 billion at the end of September.