Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

It was something that we queried. It did not sound right, but the representations we received were to the effect that it happened from time to time. The Deputy must bear in mind that every potential purchaser signs a non-disclosure agreement and is required to get from its advisers a similar undertaking not to disclose any of the information around the transaction or that they take from the room. It might be worth the committee's while examining a non-disclosure agreement in terms of the specific requirements. It has been represented that one must sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to get into the data room, but the restrictions are broader, in that it does not have to be just information that one gets from the data room. There can be restrictions concerning how the process is being run, who is engaged in it and so on. We queried the transfer.

A specific requirement in the non-disclosure agreement was that NAMA was to be told who was to be used. That happened. Cerberus told it about the advisers that it was taking on. Cushman and Wakefield, which was PIMCO's property adviser, moved to Fortress. This is on page 80. NewRiver Retail, PIMCO's retail property advisers, moved to Cerberus. In both cases, Cerberus and Fortress informed NAMA that they were proposing to take these on at a later stage in the process. However, Cerberus did not advise that it was taking on Brown Rudnick.