NAMA not acquire McKillen's loans

DUBLIN: Ireland's National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has decided not to acquire some 1.4 billion euros ($1.98 billion) in loans secured on the assets of property developer Paddy McKillen, a spokesman for the state-run agency said on Friday.

Earlier this year, McKillen won a legal challenge stopping NAMA from taking over the assets.

The Supreme Court on Friday awarded him all the costs of his legal action.

NAMA had argued that it needed to acquire McKillen's loans because they posed a systemic risk to the banking system. The loan-to-value levels on some of the loans had been breached, the agency said in court last year.

The publicity-shy McKillen, who co-owns Dublin's Clarence Hotel with rock group U2 band members Bono and The Edge, had said his loans were being repaid and had no place in NAMA, which was established to take over Irish banks' risky commercial property portfolios.

NAMA, which has spent 30.5 billion euros acquiring loans once valued at 72 billion euros, needs performing loans to generate income.

Copyright Reuters, 2011