DUBLIN-BASED law firm Arthur Cox was yesterday confirmed as the winner of a tender process to provide legal services to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), as was revealed by The Irish Times earlier this week.

The contract was awarded by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), under whose aegis Nama is being established.

A total of 17 Irish and international firms tendered for the contract, which is being established to acquire and manage toxic property loans from Irish banks.

This is the latest advisory services contract awarded by Nama. Last week contracts were awarded to HSBC Investment Bank for banking services and to PricewaterhouseCoopers for the provision of tax advisory services.

Arthur Cox is led by managing partner Pádraig Ó Ríordáin and advised the Government on the recent nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank.

The company has specialised in the past on providing advisory services to the banking and property sectors.

Its clients have included property developer Seán Dunne, who spent €400 million acquiring two hotel properties in Ballsbridge.

It is also a legal adviser to Bank of Ireland, which is covered by the Government guarantee scheme and will be transferring some of its loans to Nama.

It has also acted for AIB and Anglo Irish Bank on a range of property and commercial deals.

Nama will purchase the impaired property loans from the banks through the issue of Government bonds. This debt will be repaid from funds raised through the sale of these assets over a period of time.

The body is led on an interim basis by Brendan McDonagh, who was director of finance, technology and risk at the NTMA.