A developer who claims his company was cut out of the €83 million sale of State assets agency Nama-controlled properties in Prague wants a Dáil committee to investigate the deal.
Seán Mulryan's Ballymore sold the Savarin portfolio, a group of buildings on Prague's Wenceslas Square, to Czech firm Crestyl and used the €83 million raised to repay debt secured against the property to Nama.
James Woolf, chairman of Czech developer Flow East, has written to the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) saying that his company was prepared to bid more than the €83 million paid by Crestyl but was "excluded" from the transaction.
Mr Woolf’s letter points out that while Ballymore sold the building for €83 million, the total owed to Nama and secured against the property was €117 million. He suggests that the agency failed to get the best possible value for the assets.
He dismisses Nama’s position that it had no involvement or influence, pointing out that the agency had to release the security over the properties to allow them to be sold.
Mr Woolf compares the case to Project Eagle, Nama's €1.6 billion sale of Northern Ireland-related debts to US company Cerberus, which sparked claims of conflicts of interest and led to several investigations, including one recently concluded by the PAC.
Tip of iceberg
Mr Woolf says the concerns raised by Project Eagle are just the tip of the iceberg and predicts a comprehensive review of Nama is inevitable.
“If the members of the committee agree and have an interest in the Savarin case and the matters referred to above, then Flow East is available to discuss or attend for interview and to provide any further detail required,” Mr Woolf says.
A Nama spokesman said that it had written to the Dáil committee regarding the Prague deal. “We have confirmed to the PAC that we accepted the best unconditional offer and the full par debt was recovered,” he said. It is understood that Crestyl’s offer was unconditional, while Flow East’s was not.
Repaid
Ballymore repaid the full €117 million due to Nama against the building. The State agency could not have recovered any more than the amount due to it, irrespective of what the buyer paid for the property.
The Dáil committee has not taken any action in relation to the complaint. Flow East took legal action in the Czech courts in 2015 and last year began proceedings in the Republic's High Court.
Ballymore originally planned to redevelop the buildings as 60,000sq m of shops and offices. The company did not comment.
