Results 22,161-22,180 of 34,777 for speaker:Seán Fleming
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: So Lazard had a vested interest in recommending a particular bid?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: I ask the Deputy to make this his last question.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: I am moving on to the next speaker.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: Mr. Long cannot answer as to why NAMA did not tell him about this.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: We will have to ask NAMA that question. Lazard was not informed of this. This is a question for NAMA that the Deputy is asking Mr. Long to answer.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: The Deputy asked Mr. Long why was he not informed. The Deputy is asking him to speculate why NAMA did not tell him this. That is a question for NAMA.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: That is the question.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: I call Deputy McDonald. Deputy Cullinane can come back in again but I want to move on.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: We are not here to be political. Was Mr. Long told it was political?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: The next speaker is Deputy Cassells.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: I have some questions following on from that. When did Mr. Long hear about the actual reasons for PIMCO's exit from the process? He was not aware at this stage but when did he become aware?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: The transaction closed in June, several months later, so Mr. Long was not aware at any stage up to that.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: I will ask a few questions and we can have a second round in a moment. The list of potential bidders is on page 71 of the report as follows: PIMCO; Blackstone; Starwood; Oaktree; Apollo; Lone Star; Cerberus; Goldman Sachs; and Fortress. I would not know all of these. Are they all American-based or European-based organisations?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: When NAMA started out, it was the largest property-holding company on the planet. Why would it confine such a sale just to Americans? In London one can see the investment from eastern Europe and the Middle East. Why did Lazard not look further afield, given that NAMA was the biggest property-holding company on the planet?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: Are there people from the Middle East or Asia in this market today?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: I thank Mr. Long; I just wanted to clarify that. Was it unusual to require no external funding? How much of an impact would that have had on price given that the nine potential bidders could not obtain finance to support their bids?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: In Mr. Long's professional career with his company he has dealt with about 50 sales. Would that condition have applied in many of the 50? How common or unusual would that be?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: Would it be 10% or 2%. How many would it be, ballpark? The thing is unusual and would have an impact on price.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: It would be quite a minority.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)
Seán Fleming: I thank Mr. Long; I just wanted to check that. On the letter of engagement, there was the verbal agreement, a slide presentation. As Deputy McDonald mentioned earlier, we wrote to NAMA some time ago looking for some documentation. There was a concern from NAMA that Lazard had not consented to the release of information. Is Mr. Long familiar with that?