Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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274. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a list of investment funds and real estate investment trusts to which the National Asset Management Agency has sold commercial and residential properties; the value of sales to each; the value of the loan with which the property was bought by the original developer; and if he will provide a list of each of the properties concerned. [4839/15]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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275. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of Irish properties sold by the National Asset Management Agency detailing their original owners; the buyers of same; the profits or loss on each transaction relative to the original face value of the loan; and the price for which NAMA purchased the property from the banks. [4840/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 274 and 275 together.

From inception to the end of 2014, NAMA and its debtors and receivers were involved in more than 4,000 transactions involving sales of Irish assets. These transactions yielded total sales proceeds of €5.5 billion.

Under Section 202 of the NAMA Act 2009, NAMA is prohibited from disclosing confidential information. Confidential information is defined to include information relating to debtors, including the property assets securing their loans. The Act also provides that, on acquisition of a loan, NAMA takes over the obligations of the participating institution, one of which is the contractual duty of confidentiality to debtors. NAMA cannot, therefore, disclose details about debtors as to do so would leave it open to litigation. Information about individual debtors or guarantors is also protected against disclosure by the Data Protection Acts with which NAMA must comply as a data controller.

Confidential information is also defined to include information which, if disclosed, would tend to place NAMA at a commercial disadvantage. The disclosure by NAMA of the identity of the purchasers of its loans and property assets and the commercial terms of individual sales transactions would place it at a significant commercial disadvantage relative to its competitors. Other financial institutions engaged in deleveraging their loan portfolios in Ireland are not required to disclose such information. It is important that NAMA, which is seeking to maximise the return to Irish taxpayers from its loan portfolio, should not be placed at a commercial disadvantage by disclosing information which would benefit its competitors and potential future counter-parties. It is also likely that some potential purchasers would decline to bid on NAMA assets and loan sale transactions if they were aware that transaction details were to be published subsequently.

I am satisfied therefore that disclosure by NAMA of the details of purchasers and of the commercial terms of sales transactions, other than what purchasers themselves choose to put into the public domain, would ultimately have the effect of reducing NAMA's financial return. This would be completely contrary to its statutory obligation, under Section 10 of the NAMA Act, to obtain the best achievable financial return for the State.

The Deputy may be aware, and it is a matter of public record, that the IRES REIT has purchased two residential portfolios (the Orange and Rockbrook portfolios) that were offered for sale by NAMA and that the proceeds from these sales have been used to reduce debtor indebtedness. It is also a matter of public record that Green REIT has been a purchaser of assets sold by NAMA debtors and receivers, including part of the Central Park portfolio in Dublin. I am also advised that the Hibernia REIT purchased the Observatory Building which is located in the South Docks area of Dublin and which was offered for sale as part of NAMA's Redwood portfolio.

NAMA acquired and manages loans, not property, and its financial statements are prepared on this basis in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. In its financial statements, NAMA discloses aggregate information about its sales activity and the overall profit or loss generated by it. NAMA's Section 55 Report and Accounts for the third quarter of 2014 was published recently and is available on . It includes information on the overall profit generated on property and loan sale transactions by NAMA since its inception. It shows that, from inception to 30 September 2014, the overall profit recorded in respect of property and loan sale transactions was €432m.