Nama sells loans for €800m

The National Asset Management Agency has sold loans associated with the Claridges, Connaught and Berkeley hotels in London, it was confirmed today.

The loans, which funded the acquisition of the hotels in 2005, were given to the Maybourne Hotel Group by two Irish banks. Nama acquired the loans at the end of June 2010 from the banks.

The Maybourne Hotel Group was headed by Derek Quinlan, who has become a Nama debtor.

The loans were sold for more than €800 million to Maybourne Finance Limited, company controlled by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, with the agency recovering the original value of the loans plus interest.

Nama said it was seeking to hire advisers to help sell its US and European loan portfolios. The agency is likely to appoint six advisers in Europe and four in the US, to advise on the "overall planning, strategy, timing and tactics for the loan sale", and provide guidance on the "credibility of different bids.

"Loan sales will form a major part of our strategy going forward, now that we are almost through the debtor business plans and now that we've gleaned considerable knowledge about the assets and the debtors," Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh said in a speech in Dublin today.

The agency acquired €71.2 billion of assets from Irish banks in 2010 and 2011 and expects to obtain €1.9 billion more in the fourth quarter, according to documents distributed to potential advisers yesterday. It plans to sell 25 per cent of its loan book by the end of 2013.

Nama has acquired about €600 million worth of loans linked to assets in the US and €30 billion of loans related to assets in the UK and Europe.

The market value of its UK property portfolio was €8.2 billion in November 2009, according to Nama's 2010
annual report. Property in the rest of Europe was valued at €1.5 billion and in the US and Canada was €300 million.

Additional reporting: Bloomberg