The US fund that acquired Nama’s Northern Irish loan portfolio in 2014 is a shortlisted bidder for a further €7.6 billion of loans, known as Project Arrow.
Cerberus Capital Management bought a £4.5 billion collection of loans, known as Project Eagle, from the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) in April 2014. That deal is now being investigated by a Northern Irish parliamentary committee and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
The shortlist for the new portfolio also includes a joint bid by Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, and CarVal Investors, a US company, according to the news agency Bloomberg. Apollo Global, a US private equity firm, is also said to be in the running.
Project Arrow consists of about 500 non-performing loans related to residential and commercial properties, mostly located in Ireland with the remainder in Britain. The portfolio is set to be the agency’s largest sale to date, although the sale value is likely to be much less than the €7.6 billion face value of the loans.
Last month, Mick Wallace, an independent TD, called for all Nama sales to be halted. He said a “forensic examination” of the agency should be conducted “now rather than later” to ascertain “whether the maximum return has been achieved for the Irish taxpayer in all transactions to date”.
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Mr Wallace raised concerns about Nama following allegations that more than £7 million from the proceeds of the Project Eagle sale had been earmarked for a politician or political party in the North.
Project Eagle was sold to Cerberus for more than £1.2 billion last year. Both the Stormont finance committee and the British National Crime Agency are investigating the deal. Nama and all of the companies involved have denied any wrongdoing.
Nama is also seeking bidders for a a €2.4 billion portfolio known as Project Jewel, which includes loans related to Dundrum Town Centre, the shopping centre in Dublin.