Ireland

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has accused developers of being in “denial” about the crisis in construction and rejected criticisms that it had compounded problems in the banking and property markets by applying steep discounts to loans transferred to the agency, the Irish Times reported. The comments followed the release yesterday by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) of a report – commissioned from Lombard Street Research – on Nama’s impact on the banking and property sectors one year on from its establishment.

European Central Bank officials tried to force Ireland to seek a bailout earlier this month and European officials are now trying to do the same to Portugal, Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said. “Clearly there were people from outside this country who were trying to bounce us in as a sovereign state, into making an application, throwing in the towel before we had even considered it as a government,” he told Irish state broadcaster RTE in an interview today.

A revised restructuring plan will see Anglo Irish Bank rebranded and changed into an asset recovery bank, chairman Alan Dukes confirmed today, the Irish Times reported. Mr Dukes said the original plan to split Anglo into a funding bank and recovery agency had been shelved. A plan to wind down the bank’s loan book over “a multi-year period” would be submitted to the European Commission by the end of January, he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland . However, Mr Dukes said that it was difficult to predict the timing for a recovery in loans.

A second bondholder group has claimed to hold a stake sufficient to block part of Anglo Irish Bank’s efforts to bolster its capital – raising the prospect of the bank’s restructuring being delayed. The bank’s battle with its bondholders is being closely watched for what it might imply for Ireland’s ability to inflict losses on junior creditors in its ailing banking sector. Anglo Irish has offered its junior, or subordinated, noteholders just 20 per cent of the face value of their holdings.

Two banks have appointed receivers to insolvent building company, Pierse Contracting, to protect their secured debts, the Irish Times reported. Simon Coyle of Mazars is investigating Pierse group’s trading activities on the instruction of the High Court, which appointed him as liquidator to Pierse Contracting and a related firm, Pierse Building Services, earlier this month. Pierse Contracting has a deficit of €212 million and owes its unsecured creditors, largely made up of subcontractors and suppliers, more than €50 million.

Fighting to prevent an accelerating debt crisis from engulfing Portugal and Spain, Europe’s finance ministers approved an 85 billion euro bailout package for Ireland, while also agreeing for the first time to hold private investors accountable for losses in future crises, beginning in 2013, the International Herald Tribune reported.

Irish Nationwide has succeeded in its legal bid to dismiss a lawsuit by two subordinated bondholders in the High Court in London as a judge said he could not stop the Government’s plan to share the €5.4 billion cost of the building society, The Irish Times reported. The bondholders, Satinland Finance and Trimast Holding, had sought to force a unit of French bank BNP Paribas, the trustee of the bonds, to file a winding up petition against Irish Nationwide to force their repayment in full. The investment funds did not have a valid legal claim, Judge George Mann said in his ruling.

As fears about Ireland’s political stability rattled Europe on Tuesday, the party of Prime Minister Brian Cowen brushed aside calls for his immediate ouster on Tuesday and urged the government to approve wrenching budget- and deficit-reduction plans in order to secure a $100 billion bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the International Herald Tribune reported.

The David Drumm bankruptcy case has been told that the former banker’s wife, Lorraine, now has her own legal representative, The Irish Times reported. In a filing yesterday, attorney Christopher Panos of Boston said he was now representing Ms Drumm. He has requested that copies of all orders, pleadings, etc in the case now be forwarded to him. This means both Mr Drumm and his wife will be receiving copies of the filings in the case.

Two businessmen are being pursued by Bank of Scotland Ireland for judgment orders of some €1.2 million arising from personal guarantees allegedly provided by them over loans to a company, The Irish Times reported. BoSI has brought proceedings against Frank Ennis, Rock Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin, and Milltown Hall, St Anne’s, Dublin, and against Brian Palmer, Brennanstown Road, Cabinteely, over their alleged June 2008 guarantees of the debts of a company, the Doughmaster Ltd, up to a maximum €2 million.