Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister knows, about 90% of what NAMA has sold has been bought by US private equity funds. Their intentions in the medium term for the assets they have acquired from NAMA remains to be seen. Will the Minister speak about reports that NAMA is preparing to sell €8 billion worth of loans? If such a large tranche is sold, the loans could be bought by foreign investors, which would have a fundamental impact on the nature of the relationship between the debtors and their lenders. Many of them are viable trading businesses, despite having an overhang of property-related debt. Will the Minister confirm to the House if the reports that NAMA is preparing to sell €8 billion worth of assets are accurate? Some markets sources are indicating that there has been a change of attitude within NAMA, that there is now a much greater emphasis on disposing assets quickly and that there is, perhaps, some pressure on NAMA to wind up its operations more quickly than was originally intended. Will the Minister confirm, in respect of the €8 billion worth of assets, if NAMA is making plans to sell such a large tranche?

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