Nama sale: Cerberus tells Stormont finance committee £1.87bn of debt is written off

Cerberus, the US investment fund, has sought to defend its operations in Northern Ireland saying it has agreed to write-off almost £2bn of debt.

The firm has written to Stormont's finance committee which is investigating its purchase of Nama's NI loan book.

Cerberus paid more than 1.2bn for the loans in June 2014 which had an original unpaid balance of more than £4bn.

It said £1.87bn of the original sum has been written off.

This includes the release of some personal guarantees.

The firm also revealed that 430 assets linked to the loans have been sold or refinanced, which is about half the portfolio.

It said it has stimulated activity in the Northern Ireland property market with "key developers now active again."

Action

One of its borrowers, Gareth Graham, is currently taking legal action against Cerberus over the appointment of administrators to a number of his companies.

In its submission the firm said "the vast majority of outcomes are achieved without recourse to litigation."

The company also discloses details of two loan portfolios it has bought from Ulster Bank.

It bought Project Aran in December 2014 which consisted of more than 1,300 borrowers relating to 5,400 properties.

About 20% of the loan balance relates to property in Northern Ireland.

Project Rathlin, which it bought in 2015, consists of 116 borrowers and 680 properties, more than 85% of which are in Northern Ireland.