Ireland

The Minister for Finance has linked a deal on Ireland’s bank debt and the State’s emergence from the bailout programme, the Irish Times reported. Michael Noonan said the International Monetary Fund would have to assess the sustainability of Ireland’s fiscal position when it is emerging from the bailout programme. The IMF conducts ongoing debt-sustainability analyses for countries in its programmes. By the end of this year, it will begin to examine Ireland’s ability to emerge from its funding programme at the end of 2013, as envisaged.

Solicitor Noel Smyth’s Alburn Real Estate UK is to be put into receivership by Rothschild, ending his efforts to regain command of the heavily indebted property portfolio which has breached a number of its borrowing covenants, the Irish Times reported. The move by Rothschild follows the failure on Tuesday of Alburn, which owns 47 offices, warehouses and other properties, to meet a demand from the bank for accelerated repayment of approximately £200 million (€250 million), including interest.

KBC Bank Ireland will receive further capital from its Belgian parent this year as loan losses will fall but remain high, chief executive John Reynolds has said, the Irish Times reported. The Irish bank received €75 million from KBC Bank in the first quarter of this year as arrears rose on the Irish residential mortgage portfolio of €13 billion. This was the first cash injection by the Irish bank’s parent since 2008. KBC converted almost €300 million of subordinated debt loaned to the Irish unit into capital earlier this year.

The evidence of businessman Seán Quinn, his son and nephew denying contempt of court orders restraining them from putting property assets beyond the reach of Anglo Irish Bank is "fantastic" and "incredible", the High Court was told Thursday, the Irish Times reported. Shane Murphy SC, for the bank - now Irish Bank Resolution Corporation - argued it has proven beyond reasonable doubt the three Quinn family members breached court orders of June and July 2011.

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd has made a revised 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion) bid for eircom, the Irish phone company granted court protection from creditors six weeks ago, according to sources familiar with the deal. Hutchison, the parent company of 3 Mobile, amended its offer after the court-appointed examiner overseeing Eircom's reorganization rejected an initial bid over the conditionality attached to it, Reuters reported. A tweaked bid, with some technical adjustments and no conditions, has been resubmitted, but it is still subject to due diligence said a source.

The National Asset Management Agency has unveiled its deferred mortgage payment plan in an attempt to sell residential properties on its books and stimulate sales in the moribund property market, the Irish Times reported. The initiative is designed to encourage potential buyers who can secure mortgage approval but who postpone their purchase fearing that property prices will fall further. Nama listed 115 houses in 12 developments in Dublin, Meath and Cork where the scheme will be piloted before the possibility of being introduced on more properties.

The National Asset Management Agency has intensified its legal efforts to seize international assets from bankrupt developer Ray Grehan by seeking to enter its judgment of €270 million last year from the Irish courts in the US, the Irish Times reported. Documents filed in the New York State Supreme Court show the State loans agency sought to enter the judgment for $351 million, the US dollar equivalent of the Irish court judgment, against the developer at the end of March.

The National Asset Management Agency’s efforts to sell off British properties outside London by the end of 2013 has been complicated by news that the UK’s commercial property market is in its worst downturn since records began, the Irish Times reported. The value of shops, offices and warehouses is 31 per cent below the September 2007 peak, according to a survey by Investment Property Databank (IPD), while prices fell by a further 0.7 per cent in the first three months of this year.

A cash offer of €2 billion for Eircom was rejected by the company’s examiner and its senior lenders in the past week, the Irish Times has learned. Mobile phone group 3 Ireland and its Hong Kong-based parent company Hutchison Whampoa, made the offer. The 3 group is the number four mobile operator in Ireland and was the unnamed bidder for Eircom referred to in a statement issued on Monday by the heavily-indebted company.

Troubled Irish property developer Treasury Holdings has begun legal proceedings against Nama. It is seeking substantial compensation and is contesting the constitutionality of the legislation governing its activities, the Irish Times reported. It is understood that Treasury, which is jointly controlled by businessmen Richard Barrett and Johnny Ronan, has made an application to the High Court on both matters.