Property developer Ballymore has exited Ireland's bad-bank NAMA, following the repayment of €3.2 bn of debt, according to the Irish Times.
Seán Mulryan, founder of the Irish development firm, told employees in a note that the group cleared its liabilities on 21 December after a final debt repayment to the agency which completed its so-called Connection Management Agreement.
He said that Ballymore had repaid around €3.2 bn to NAMA over a six-year period, as well as clearing 'significant borrowings' from RBS, KBC and other institutions to bring total debt repayments to around €4 bn.
'Although there is still a lot of work to do and many projects to be delivered upon, we have just achieved something exceptional together,' Mulryan commented.
At last year's Irish parliamentary banking inquiry, Ballymore's total debts were listed as €2.4 bn at the end of March 2009, comprising mostly Irish bank loans which were subsequently transfered to NAMA. Interest payments and interest on new loans for further development projects from NAMA are believed to have brought the sum over the €3 bn mark.
'We have also managed to retain one of the best development land banks in London, a significant land bank in Ireland, a significant property investment portfolio and have successfully grown our development management and construction management businesses in London, Birmingham and Dublin,' added Mulryan.
Ballymore is understood to have been one of NAMA's biggest debtors and potentially the largest group to have successfully exited the agency. It continues to develop Piper's Hall in Kildare and Royal Canal Park in north Dublin, amongst other schemes, as part of its agreement with NAMA.
The Irish developer is also moving ahead on a €700 mln mixed-use scheme in Dublin's docklands set to deliver offices, retail and 273 apartments. The project, dubbed Dublin Landings, is being developed in partnership with Singapore's Oxley Docklands Quay Limited.
