I am advised that NAMA did not own the property in question. Its role in relation to the property was as the secured lender. The property was owned and managed by the debtor, who had responsibility for the management of the sales process.
I am advised by NAMA that the property in question was not sold during the period when the loans were owned by NAMA. Nor was there a binding legal agreement in place whereby the debtor, who has a right to seek to achieve the maximum value for their assets, was obligated to sell the property to a particular purchaser.
I am advised that, over a 15 month period, NAMA endeavoured, in good faith, to facilitate the sale of this property by the debtor to an educational institution. In order to enable the sale to the institution, NAMA approved the sale at an agreed independent valuation in March 2016. However, the purchaser did not sign the contracts or pay a deposit until December 2016. I am advised that, by the time NAMA was notified that the purchaser had signed the contracts, the connected loans of the debtor had already been contracted for sale to a third party as part of a multi-connection loan sale which had been openly marketed in a competitive loan sales process. This loan sale was progressed in keeping with NAMA’s statutory mandate to deal expeditiously with its assets.
I am advised that, after the loans were sold, NAMA was no longer in a position to influence matters relating to the property. For the avoidance of doubt, contracts for the sale of the property did not exchange during the time that the property was secured to NAMA.
Lastly, I am advised that where loans relating to a property are sold before an associated asset sale has contracted, the loan acquirer is generally made aware that the property is at "sale agreed" stage. NAMA have confirmed that this was the case in the transaction referenced by the Deputy. However, the Deputy will also appreciate that NAMA’s involvement with a given property ends once the loans are sold and any future commercial decisions regarding underlying assets are entirely a matter for the loan acquirer and associated debtor.
