Ireland’s Rescue Bank Recovers Taxpayer Money in Sale to Google By Dara Doyle and Finbarr Flynn - Feb 17, 2011 11:06 AM GMT+0100 The agency set up to purge Ireland’s banks of risky commercial real-estate loans said it will recover all the taxpayer money invested in a Dublin office tower that is being sold to Google Inc. The U.S. Internet search service purchased the 15-story Montevetro building for 99.9 million euros ($136 million), the property’s developer, Real Estate Opportunities Plc, said in a statement today. Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency will get back more than it paid for the loan backed by the office building and additional funding advanced to REO to complete it, NAMA said in a separate statement. NAMA was established after the collapse of Ireland’s property market saddled lenders with bad debts and forced the state to accept an 85 billion-euro rescue package last year. The agency had acquired loans with a face value of 71.2 billion euros for a price of 30.2 billion euros by the end of last year. It also approved advances of 592 million euros to fund developments including Montevetro, NAMA said. The sale “will be seen as a very positive sign for the future of the Irish commercial property market,” NAMA Chairman Frank Daly said in the statement. “It is an excellent example of NAMA’s ability to enhance the value of its assets for the benefit of taxpayers.” NAMA will repay 250 million euros of senior securities known as NAMA bonds, a first for the agency, it said today in the statement. The 15-story tower is the tallest commercial building in Dublin and has 210,000 square feet (19,510 square meters) of prime office space, Google said in a separate statement. The purchase will help support future operations for the Mountain View, California-based company, which has its European headquarters in Dublin. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-17/...ays-bonds.html?cmpid=yhoo |