Mr. Patrick Long:

Let us take each of them in turn. One of the Comptroller and Auditor General's concerns is that the process was not as competitive as it might have been. My response is to point out that competition is not simply a function of the number of parties involved in a process. It is to do with the motivation of those parties. Even though there were fewer participants in the Project Eagle sale process than in some other NAMA sale processes, there was real competitive tension throughout. It was that competitive tension, in my view, that motivated the bidders and which resulted in Cerberus being willing to pay a price for the portfolio in excess of NAMA's reserve price.