Developer Mulryan reaches agreement with Nama

SEÁN MULRYAN has become the latest of Ireland’s big property developers to reach agreement with the National Asset Management…

SEÁN MULRYAN has become the latest of Ireland’s big property developers to reach agreement with the National Asset Management Agency on a business plan for his large portfolio of debt-laden property assets.

Mr Mulryan, who controls Ballymore Properties in Ireland, reached agreement with Nama on a business plan in recent days, The Irish Times has learned.

The details of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Nama has also recently concluded agreements with Cork-based developer Michael O’Flynn and with Joe O’Reilly, who developed the Dundrum Town Centre.

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About a dozen of Nama’s top 30 borrowers have now agreed a memorandum of understanding with the agency.

Nama has so far initiated “enforcement procedures” against seven of the top 30 debtors. It said last week that another five debtors had yet to conclude their negotiations with the agency.

Mr Mulryan’s main entity in Ireland is Ballymore Properties, which is unlimited and does not publish financial accounts.

But an auditors’ report published in July of last year, relating to its 2009 trading, stated that its principal assets comprise a “development property and tangible fixed-asset portfolio” with a “carrying value” of €2.39 billion.

The auditors noted there were a “number of material uncertainties” that cast doubt on the group’s ability to successfully repay, refinance or renew bank facilities of €1.875 billion, which fell due by March 2010, and €8 million, which fell due on March 31st, 2011.

Accounts filed earlier this year for Ballymore Properties Ireland Ltd, a subsidiary company, indicate that it was awaiting the acceptance by Nama of its business plan.

Ballymore Properties Ireland Ltd made a loss for the year to the end of March 2010 of €51.1 million.

In Ireland, Ballymore has been involved in the Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge and the Hermitage Medical Centre in Lucan. Its residential developments included sites in Baldoyle, Greystones and Portmarnock.

Last week, it was reported that Mr Mulryan, who lives in Ballymore Eustace in Co Kildare, had agreed a five-year disposal programme with Nama in relation to his non-Irish assets, which are held by a company called Markland. Among the assets that company owns are 47 Citibank branches in the New York area, a shopping centre in Surrey, England, and property holdings in the Czech Republic and Hungary.

The group had losses of €32.2 million in 2009 after it took impairment charges. Its loans were held by Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank.

Accounts for Markland stated: “Based on the business plan, the directors believe that Nama will continue to support the group.”

No comment was available from either Ballymore or Nama.