Nama to pay State €350m this year as wind-down looms for bad debt agency
Brendan McDonagh, Nama chief executive
The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) made a profit of €81m last year and is still on track to deliver nearly €5bn to the Exchequer by the time it winds down in 2025, the agency said Thursday.
But just €350m of that money is due to be paid this year as Nama’s asset base shrinks and the cash generated from transactions reduces.
The agency now has less than €500m in assets on its books after realising cash returns of €47.4bn to date.
“As we enter our final phase, we are focused on two overarching aims – maximising value and delivery from our remaining portfolio, and resolving our outstanding workstreams in an orderly and well-managed fashion,” said Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh.
“Our 2022 profit shows our continued success in value maximisation against a backdrop of a loan portfolio that is now less than 2pc of what we originally acquired.”
He added that there was “still a lot of work to do” to get the most out of the remaining assets and collect as much as possible in the two years remaining.
Nama’s deleveraging programme was 98pc complete at the end of 2022, according to its annual report, with debtor loans on its books falling from €32bn at the outset of its work to just €500m today.
As of the end of March 2023, the loans of 126 debtors remained under Nama management, down from an original 800 debtors when it was established in 2009.
Of the current number, 55 are “actively engaged” with Nama, with more than half subject to enforcement with receivers appointed to their assets. The other 71 are being monitored under forbearance strategies or exit agreements with the agency.
While Nama continues to focus on the management of remaining loans and the disposal of their related assets, the agency has also turned its attention to housing provision in recent years.
Nama has spent €350m fixing and buying social housing which has been leased or sold to approved housing bodies and local authorities. By the end of last year, the agency had delivered 2,800 social housing units – 40pc more than its original target of 2,000.
The agency also has a 20pc shareholding in the Poolbeg West SDZ in a consortium that includes a Johnny Ronan investment vehicle. Development plans on part of the site have recently been held up by planning refusals.
