Westport House owners still ‘in dark’ over estate’s future

The owners of Westport House in Co Mayo say they are still "in the dark" about the estate's future, following Government intervention to exclude it from the latest National Asset Management Agency (Nama) loan portfolio sale.

The Browne family has called for "face-to-face talks" with Mayo County Council and Fáilte Ireland, promising to put its "best foot forward" in such discussions.

A spokesman for the family has denied that there is any conflict between it and the Government over whether the estate should be owned publicly or privately in the future, but says the family fears that the house, contents and lands could be split up in the current scenario.

Late last week, Nama withdrew loans secured on the Westport House estate from a sale to US investment fund Cerberus, just 24 hours before the fund's affiliate, Promontoria Holding 176 BV , was named as preferred bidder for the Project Arrow portfolio of loans valued at €6.25 billion.

Cerberus is believed to have bid about €800 million for Project Arrow, but several TDs have already called for the sale to be suspended in the light of the current investigations north of the Border into aspects of the fund’s purchase of the Project Eagle portfolio of loans last year.

Minister of State for Tourism and Westport TD Michael Ring has confirmed that he facilitated a meeting between Nama and Mayo County Council. This followed fears expressed by local councillors that the town and wider region could lose its main tourist attraction, owned by the Browne family, descended from Grace O’Malley, for almost 400 years.

A consultancy study commissioned by the council and published in September estimated that the house and estate generated almost €1.7 million in direct expenditure to the exchequer and local economy last year and €50 million in indirect investment to the county and wider western region.

‘Public interest’

Mr Ring has defended his intervention against criticism from Fianna Fáil, pointing out that section 4.1.1. of Nama guidelines permit a sale to be concluded without open marketing "where a government entity or State/semi-State body has approached Nama,or any of its subsidiaries, to purchase a real estate asset for legitimate reasons in the public interest".

"I'm very happy that progress has been made, but negotiations are at a very early stage, and when the legalities are sorted out I'm sure everyone will sit down and discuss what's in the best interests for everybody,"Mr Ring told The Irish Times, responding to the family's concerns.

Mr Ring also said that he “wasn’t surprised at Fianna Fáil playing politics with a national and local treasure,” and said the party was “out of touch” with public concern over the estate’s future.

Mayo county manager Peter Hynes also confirmed that "discussions with Nama are ongoing" and he expected that the local authority would "be discussing the overall future of the house and lands with the family in the coming weeks".

However, the family is concerned that the council could find itself being asked to pay substantially more for the loan on the lands than if it had been purchased by Cerberus – which could have offered an avenue for further acquisition.

The loan of €6.5 million, which mounted to over €9 million with interest, was taken out with 380 acres of land as security by the late Lord Altamont, Jeremy Browne, in 2006.

The estate’s gross value is just over €12 million, according to probate documents.

The house and contents have already been valued by London-based auctioneers and estate agents in advance of possible sale.