Mr. Brendan McDonagh:

We had a single round of bidding but, as Lazard had said, it did not affect the outcome. People who signed up to the process knew that they were signing up to a single round of bidding. A condensed process appealed to some of them.

A further point was made on acquiring the portfolio for cash. That is what we told people. Those who were approached had the money to do it. If they got in poll position and NAMA told them that they were the preferred bidder, they could close the transaction. That is not a real restriction. We are referring to funds that have in the range of $10 billion to $200 billion under management. They are not funds that have $500 million under management trying to buy a £1.3 billion portfolio. They have multiples of the portfolio's value.