Nama confirms plan to redeem more senior bonds

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) is to redeem €3 billion in senior bonds that were originally issued in 2010 and 2011 within the next two weeks, it has confirmed.

Speaking at the Institute of Directors Spring Lunch in Dublin, Nama chairman Frank Daly said the agency hopes to be in a position to close 50 per cent of its senior debt of €30.2 billion by year-end.

A total of €7.5 billion in senior debt has already been redeemed by Nama. The redeeming of the additional bonds in the coming weeks will mean the agency has redeemed about a third of its senior debt.

Mr Daly also confirmed the agency will, for the first time, pay a coupon on the subordinated debt issued as part of the consideration for its acquired loans. Total subordinated debt issued to the participating institutions was €1.6 billion and the coupon payment will be €84 million.

Mr Daly said payment of the coupon provides a strong signal of the agency’s confidence in its financial outlook and that it is also positive in its implications for bank capital.

The Nama chairman outlined plans to offer packaged property portfolios in addition to schedules sales in each quarter of 2014.

“We want to have a pipeline of large portfolios of mainly Irish property assets available for sale to the market and, with that in mind, we are now committing that, each quarter, packaged transactions of properties with a minimum value of €250million will be offered for sale,” he said.

“That’s a minimum - in many cases, the packages will be much larger than that but essentially we aim to provide certainty about regular asset flows which will provide clarity to potential investors, including international investors and real estate investment trust (REITs), and thus help to sustain the positive momentum in the market.”