Nama generates €8.6bn in cash in 2014

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) generated cash of some €8.6 billion in 2014, thanks to a healthy returnfrom the sale of loans and property during the year.

According to an end of year statement from the State’s “bad bank”, some € 8.6 billion in cash was generated in 2014, including € 7.8 billion from the proceeds of asset disposals, bringing total cash generated to date up to €23.7 billion.

Nama chairman Frank Daly and Nama CEO Brendan McDonagh said that 2014 was a "tremendous year in terms of cashflow generation and accelerated debt paydown and in terms of Nama making a significant contribution to the delivery of social housing, private housing and the Dublin Docklands SDZ and to employment preservation in trading businesses."

At end-2014, Nama held cash and cash equivalent balances of € 1.8 billion, after making Nama senior bond redemptions and other debt repayments totalling € 16.6 billion since inception.

To date, Nama has realised proceeds of € 18.7 billion from the sale of loans and property and other assets held as security; € 7.8 billion (42%) of this was realised in 2014, including the sale of Project Eagle ((loans secured by assets controlled by Northern Ireland debtors), and Project Tower (loans secured by investment and developments assets, mainly in Ireland, Britain and Germany).

In its statement, Nama said that a “strong flow” of asset and loan portfolios will be offered to the market during the course of 2015, assuming that current investor interest is sustained.

On the funding front, Nama has approved a total of € 3.2 billion in advances to debtors and receivers, and it said that it is prepared to advance additional funding for commercially viable Irish projects, including the Dublin Docklands development programme.

With respect to residential housing, Nama is on target to meet its goal of completing 4,500 additional units by the end of 2016, with more than 1,000 units already delivered.

By the end of 2014 Nama had delivered over 1,000 social housing units, and predicts that a further 1,000 houses and apartments will be taken up by local authorities and housing bodies in 2015.

Nama also said that it has played a “major part” in facilitating the examinership of trading businesses during 2014, which resulted in safeguarding close to 1,000 jobs,