Treasury Holdings notes the decision of the High Court today not to allow relief to the company on the appointment of receivers by Nama and will now mount an appeal.
We also note that the judgment established the principle of the right to be heard in advance of receivers being appointed.
In her judgment, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan found that, ‘Nama was under a duty to act fairly and reasonably in taking the decision to enforce. Further it was in breach of that obligation by reason of its failure to hear Treasury; its failure to consider a relevant matter, namely, investor interest in the acquisition of the Treasury loans or underlying secured assets and the unfair procedure in the timing of the Credit Committee meeting on December 6th, 2011.’
There were three bids from overseas investors for our loans before Nama set about appointing receivers. We understand that a new potential bidder, a major prestigious international entity, has been in touch with Nama in recent times and is preparing a bid for the loan portfolio.
We believe a third party negotiator should now be appointed to secure the best bid for the Treasury Holdings loans.
Today’s Judgment does not change the central issue. Nama is tasked with getting the best deal for the taxpayer for the loans under its control including ours. There are investors out there willing to offer a far superior outcome to that offered by receivership. Those opportunities should now be taken.
Our shareholders have said already that they recognise that any deal with foreign investors will involve their losing control of Treasury Holdings. However, it will ensure that the unique skills and expertise this company has will be kept together, that the 300 jobs in Treasury Holdings are safeguarded, and that this company will play an important role in Ireland’s economic recovery, providing the kind of high quality office and other accommodation that foreign investors in Ireland need and for which the IDA has said there was a looming shortage.