Nama makes early debt repayment

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has said it will recover the money it invested in a Dublin office block that was sold to Google today.

The Montevetro development, which was developed by Real Estate Opportunities (REO), was sold to Google for €99.9 million.

Google said the new building would give the company the space to expand.

"We are at capacity in our EMEA headquarters on Barrow Street and the additional space will allow us to relocate some teams to Montevetro and to create an even more spacious working environment for Googlers in our existing buildings," said John Herlihy, vice president of ad operations, and head of Google in Ireland.

"Acquiring Montevetro also means we have the space and flexibility to support our future operations."

Nama today confirmed it had recovered more than what it had paid acquire the REO loan on the development, in addition to the funding advanced to REO to enable it to complete the building.

"The successful completion of the Montevetro development and its sale again reflect the positive potential of Nama to support the commercial property market in Ireland without compromising its objective of recovering monies owed to the taxpayer," Nama chairman Frank Daly said.

"Nama played an intrinsic part in brokering the deal between purchaser and seller and in putting this deal together. It is an excellent example of Nama's ability to enhance the value of its assets for the benefit of taxpayers."

In a statement today, Nama also said it would repay €250 million of senior securities, or Nama bonds, in the coming weeks, the first such repayment the agency has made. To date, Nama has issued €28.575 billion of senior securities to institutions participating in the so-called bad bank.

Mr Daly said the payment, which is ahead of schedule, demonstrates the effectiveness of the Nama business model and reflects its current strong cash position. "This is a significant milestone for the agency and for the participating institutions," he said.

The agency will also repay the Minister for Finance €49 million that it was given to inject ordinary equity into National Asset Management Agency Investment Limited.