Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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230. To ask the Minister for Finance to set out the level of draw-down of loans to developers for residential housing-related projects from the joint venture fund established in 2015 by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund; his views on the operation of this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10647/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I presume that the Deputy is referring to Activate Capital, a €500m non-bank financing platform established by ISIF and investment group KKR to invest on a commercial basis in residential development projects in Ireland. Activate has been operationally up and running since January 2016 and in that time has created a significant pipeline of investments. Activate recently announced the completion of three transactions that will deliver approximately 800 new residential units in the Dublin area and has stated that a number of other transactions are progressing.

It would not be appropriate to disclose the commercial detail around the drawdown or pricing of loans as this is commercially sensitive information and not for disclosure.

Activate is making an important contribution in terms of the availability of finance for commercially viable residential development projects. A unique feature of Activate is that it will provide up to 90% of project funding and will provide funding for both the acquisition of land and to bring projects through the planning process.

Activate offers competitive pricing to the market, particularly in the context that it is taking a combination of debt and equity risk, and offers the advantages of deliverability and speed of execution because project promoters do not need to engage with multiple lenders to access a combination of debt, mezzanine and equity finance.