Nearly 70% of debtors who exited NAMA have paid less than half their debts – Doherty
Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty TD has said figures released to him show that 68% of debtors who have exited NAMA did so having paid off less than half their debts.
Deputy Doherty said:
“New figures I have received from the Minister for Finance show that nearly 70% of the 505 debtors who have exited NAMA have done so having had more than half their debt still owed. These debtors originally owed €27.3bn although NAMA would not have paid significantly less than that price. Of that debt only €14.9bn has been recovered.
“NAMA’s mandate is to recoup as much money as possible from its debtors for the Irish people. Shockingly 51 debtors exited having paid 10% or less of their debts while 225 debtors paid off less than 30%.
“That is a far cry from the Brian Lenihan commitment that debtors would pursued ‘to the ends of the Earth’. The NAMA strategy, under direction from the Minister, to offload assets earlier than originally planned means that, in many cases, it has been the vulture funds that have benefitted from repayments from these debtors in a recovering property market.
“That strategy is now in question more than ever before. Sinn Féin is calling for a freezing of NAMA sales until a new policy is developed which will make sure the taxpayer receives the maximum value from what is left on NAMA’s book and which mandates NAMA to play a serious role in solving our housing problem.” ENDS
Note: Please see the PQ in question below
QUESTION NO: 111
DÁIL QUESTION addressed to
the Minister for Finance (Deputy Michael Noonan)
by Deputy Pearse Doherty
for WRITTEN ANSWER on 25/01/2017
To ask the Minister
for Finance the number of persons and corporate entities debtors whose total
repaid debts upon exiting NAMA were at certain loan book values (details
supplied) with regard to NAMA debtors that have exited the agency up to January
2017, having repaid their debts to NAMA, in tabular form; and if he will make a
statement on the matter.
REPLY.
I am interpreting the Deputy's question as
requesting the number of NAMA debtors who have exited the agency organised by
reference to the amount repaid at the time of exit from NAMA as a percentage of
the total par debt owed to NAMA. In this regard, I am interpreting your
reference to "total original loan book value" in the details supplied
to the question as the total par debt owed to NAMA at the time NAMA acquired
the loan.
I am also interpreting "exit from NAMA"
to include both the establishment of a final agreement with NAMA or the sale of
the loan. The percentages provided reflect the amounts which had been
repaid to NAMA as a percentage of the original amount owed to NAMA and are
calculated at the time a final agreement was reached with NAMA or at the time
loans may have been sold by NAMA (i.e. loan sale proceeds are not loan
repayments.)
The Deputy will be aware that NAMA originally paid
€31.8 billion to acquire a loan book with a par value - that is an outstanding
borrowed amount - of €74 billion, comprising 779 debtor connections.
These loans had a market value of €26.2 billion, roughly 35% of par.
It was never envisaged that NAMA would recover
anything close to the €74 billion par value of the loans. The average
discount was 57%. However, the acquisition discounts varied significantly
depending on the underlying quality of the assets.
I am advised that, as at 31 December 2016, 505
debtor connections with a par debt of €27.3 billion had exited NAMA. This
comprises debtor connections who had reached a final agreement with NAMA and
debtor connections whose loans had been sold. I am further advised that in 61
cases, debtors repaid 100% of the original par debt. In total, the 505 debtor
connections have repaid €14.9 billion to the Agency, that is roughly 55% of the
original par debt. A breakdown of debtor connections that had exited NAMA by
end-December 2016 is presented in the table below.
