Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

28. To ask the Minister for Finance in respect of the departmental review of the sale of Siteserv to Millington by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, the process that resulted in him being convinced that the sale amounted to the best outcome for the State; if he and his officials looked at both rounds of bids; if so, the number and name of the companies that made bids in the first round; the place in the hierarchy Millington fell; the number of those bids that went forward to the second round; the criteria for moving to the second round; the place Millington, the winning bid, fell in the hierarchy in terms of the amounts bid; if the tender process was uniform for all bidders; if not, the reason for same; if not, the way the bids were ranked; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13118/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am advised that, on foot of a meeting between officials from my Department and senior management of IBRC held on 31 May 2012, it was agreed that my Department would review this transaction to better understand the decisions taken by IBRC. This review took place, by way of a meeting between officials from my Department and senior management of IBRC, on 11 June 2012. At this meeting, IBRC officials explained how the sale process was conducted, from the selection of the original 50 candidates through to the 8 bids ultimately submitted and the selection of the winning bidder.

Following this review, a further meeting was held on 25 July 2012, which I attended along with officials from my Department and the Chairman and CEO of IBRC. At this meeting, the transaction referred to in the question was discussed further, along with a number of other topics. I can confirm that at this meeting, it was put to senior management of IBRC that officials in my Department had concerns with a number of decisions taken by IBRC in relation to the sale of SiteServ including the decision to allow the sale process to be led by advisors of SiteServ, the bidding process, entering into exclusivity with one of the bidders and the decision to exclude trade buyers. It was at this meeting that senior management of IBRC confirmed to me that the transaction involving the sale of SiteServ was thoroughly assessed by the Board of IBRC prior to them approving it and that the transaction was managed in the best manner possible to achieve the best result for the State. A further meeting between the former Secretary General of the Department of Finance, John Moran, and the then CEO of IBRC took place in August 2012 at which this matter was also further discussed. At that point, the transaction had been concluded and no further action could have been taken.

Notwithstanding the fact that a new Relationship Framework had been put in place, it was decided (following the meeting with John Moran and the then CEO of IBRC in August 2012) that a senior Department of Finance official would be seconded to IBRC to explore opportunities for deleveraging with a view to maximising the recovery for the taxpayer. This had the additional benefit of providing greater oversight while supporting the management team. The secondment of Neil Ryan to IBRC commenced shortly thereafter.