This matter was comprehensively addressed by my colleague Minister Bruton during a discussion in the Oireachtas last week and in PQs answered by me on the 25th of March 2014.
As the Oireachtas is aware the company referred to is the subject of a court-appointed Examinership process under the supervision of the High Court and it is important that the independence of that process is respected and that nothing is said that would in any way affect the outcome of the Examinership. The Examiner will consult with creditors, potential investors and other relevant parties to devise and recommend, if possible, the most appropriate course of action in the interests of the survival of the company and will put that course of action to the court for approval. NAMA, as a creditor, is one of a number of stakeholders, which include another financial institution, the Revenue Commissioners, landlords, and trade creditors that will be required to vote on the Scheme of Arrangement devised by the Examiner. The High Court will have the final say and, until then, the company is under its protection. We must be careful to respect and to avoid any suggestion of interference in this process.
By way of update, I understand that the Examiner is currently in the process of engaging with a number of parties that, I understand, have expressed an interest in the business. As part of this process, the Examiner has requested proposals from each of the parties as to their plans for the business and employees of the company.
NAMA's role in relation to this company is that of a secured lender. In this position, NAMA approved the sale of the assets of the parent company, Staunton Sports, to the existing management team. This sale could not proceed however because, prior to the management team being in a position to drawdown the requisite funding from its bank, a higher unsolicited bid was indicated in writing by another party to the proposed receiver. The management team transaction was to have completed by the evening of Friday, 31 January. However, drawdown of the requisite funding had not happened by lunchtime on Saturday, 1 February at which time the new unsolicited bid was received by the proposed receiver. The facts around this have been confirmed by the management team. The proposed receiver advised that, if appointed by NAMA, he would be legally obliged to consider the new bid, since he has a statutory obligation to secure the best price reasonably obtainable for the secured assets at the time of their sale. Media reporting of the emergence of this further bid caused concern among suppliers and trade creditors, which the Directors of Staunton Sports brought to NAMA's attention. Having regard to the deteriorating condition of the business and the company's insolvent position, and based on legal advice, NAMA and the Directors of Staunton Sports decided that Examinership was an alternative option, which would permit all bids to be considered while the Company was under the protection of the High Court. NAMA is funding the company during the Examinership process, which includes funding the payment of suppliers and staff wages.
I note the statement in the past week from the Directors of the company, which acknowledges the support of NAMA in the current Examinership process and states the Board's confidence that the current process will deliver best results for all the stakeholders.
As the Deputy will be aware, NAMA is obliged by Section 10 of the NAMA Act to obtain the best achievable return for the taxpayer. However, NAMA attaches a very high priority to the preservation of jobs in any businesses that have loans with the Agency. As evidence of this, NAMA, through the deployment of working capital, is directly supporting 15,000 jobs in Ireland in trading businesses linked to its loans. The sectors involved include property, hotel and leisure, retail, healthcare, manufacturing and agriculture.
