THERE WILL be no conflict between the aims and objectives of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) and the best interests of the North’s economy, according to agency board member Peter Stewart.
Mr Stewart, who took part in Nama’s first Northern Ireland briefing in Belfast yesterday, said he believes there will be a “convergence and co-incidence of interests”.
“We at Nama have no interest in either flooding any sector of the market with property assets or in hoarding assets, which would be equally damaging,” he said.
The agency is expected to acquire loans with an estimated value of €5 billion which are secured by property assets based in Northern Ireland.
Details of the exact assets have not yet been disclosed by the agency, but it has outlined that up to €3.3 billion worth of these loans relate directly to land and land development loans. A further €1.6 billion is tied up in associated loans.
No Northern Ireland-based assets were listed as securities in exchange for the first tranche of toxic loans from Irish building societies and banks. It is understood there may only be a few Northern Irish-based companies who feature in Nama’s top 100 clients with loans of about €100 million each.
There are estimated to be about 150 companies in the North which may have an exposure to Nama and whose loan values are likely to be within the €20 million range. The role Nama will play in the North has sparked serious debate in the business community, which has expressed fears that it could result in additional burdens or constraints being placed on Northern Irish companies.
Mr Stewart and the agency’s chairman, Frank Daly, and chief executive Brendan McDonagh, who also travelled to Belfast yesterday for the first time in their official Nama capacity, were intent on dispelling anxieties.
They addressed over 300 people including senior figures from key property development companies and local bank chiefs at an event hosted by the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce.
The North’s Minister for Finance Sammy Wilson, who has worked closely with his counterpart Brian Lenihan in relation to Nama, was also present.
Mr Stewart, who is chairman of Nama’s Northern Ireland advisory committee, told the audience he was confident the agency would be sympathetic to the situation of the market in the North and the “anticipated impact of our intended strategy”. He said that while there was a Northern advisory committee, it had no formal powers, but he believed it would have an important role to play.
He said the input of two Northern businessmen, Frank Cushnahan and Brian Rowntree, who were appointed to the advisory committee, would help “guide and direct” the agency in its work.
Although Nama’s first briefing in the North set out how the agency will work, it did not provide specific details about any strategy, or detail whether the valuation process will be different compared to that in the South.
Frank Daly, the agency’s chairman, said his key message to the North’s business community was that Nama would be sensitive to the realities of the market there.
