Nama completes sale of £1bn Northern Ireland property loan portfolio

The deal is Nama's largest single transaction and ends its involvement in Northern Ireland

A New York investment firm has completed a deal to buy the entire Northern Ireland loan portfolio that was held by Nama, the Republic of Ireland's state-controlled "bad bank".

Cerberus Capital Management is reported to have paid around £1.3bn in the deal.

It will give the firm control of hundreds of properties including office blocks, hotels, and development land.

The deal represents Nama's largest single transaction and ends its involvement in Northern Ireland.

Nama had previously revealed that it paid around £1.1bn for the loans, when it acquired them from the Irish banks after the country's property crash.

However, as the loans originally had a value of £4.5bn, Irish taxpayers will still have lost out as ultimately they paid for the recapitalisation of the banks.

Cerberus is now expected to spend several months engaging with the borrowers who hold the loans.