NAMA agrees €1.8bn Project Tower deal with Blackstone
NAMA has formally announced the sale of its €1.8bn “Project Tower” loan portfolio to Blackstone.
The transaction, which had been well flagged, is expected to be completed this week.
The “Tower portfolio” is made up of loans, property and development linked to Cork developer Michael O’Flynn’s O’Flynn Group, and has a face value of €1.8 bn.
Michael O’Flynn, managing director of the O’Flynn group, welcomed the sale.
“As a strong …
How to dodge EU 'bullies' – keep a grip on finances
I remember interviewing the late Brian Lenihan at the Department of Finance in early November 2010. After the interview we chatted and he asked how I thought the markets had received news that some holders of subordinate bonds in Irish Nationwide were going to sue the State because the bank was about to impose haircuts on them.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was one of them. “Imagine the size of the …
Revenue trawls through thousands of credit card bills to trace tax cheats
TAX officials are trawling through hundreds of thousands of credit card bills to find tax cheats.
The Revenue Commissioners have obtained details of 206,000 foreign credit cards and debit cards held by Irish residents, and tax officials are now poring through one million transactions to catch cheats secretly bringing undeclared income into the country.
The taxman wants to uncover people moving undeclared income back into Ireland from tax havens such …
Construction gets boost as growth recorded for 10th month in a row
Construction continued to grow in April as business confidence in the sector is at its strongest since June 2000, according to the Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index.
The monthly construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) from Ulster posted an overall score of 63.5 points for April, up from a reading of 60.2 points in March. A level above 50 points indicates expansion.
“The results of the April survey of the …
Recovery 'hinges on credit for SMEs and construction sector
Dealing with non-performing loans and providing credit to SMEs and the construction sector is crucial to ensuring Ireland’s economic recovery can be sustained, the European Commission has warned. It also fears that a failure to kick-start credit flows could hamper the supply of new homes.
Euro zone businesses off to bumper start in second quarter: PMI
Euro zone businesses had a solid start to the second quarter of the year with activity picking up at its fastest pace in almost three years, surveys showed on Tuesday, suggesting a broad-based recovery is taking hold in the bloc.
While Germany continued to lead the upturn, businesses in Spain and Ireland grew at their fastest pace since before the financial crisis.
Services sector hits seven year high in April
THE services sector in April grew at the fastest rate in seven years with employers adding jobs as the outlook improved with our main trading partners.
The employment sub-index rose to 60 from 58.5, its highest level since 2006.
EU financial transaction tax 'won't come before 2016'
Selected euro zone countries will implement a planned tax on financial transactions in 2016 at the earliest, their finance ministers agreed on Monday according to diplomats, leaving unresolved the much-disputed design of the levy.
Having failed to garner global support, Germany and France have led European efforts to introduce a trading tax, seen by some as a vote winner at a time of public anger over bankers’ bonuses and fines …
Bank of Ireland's business banking customers face online uncertainty
BANK of Ireland’s business banking customers face an uncertain period after the bank declined to offer an alternative to an insecure web browser for sensitive banking procedures.
The move leaves the bank’s thousands of business customers wondering whether the security of their transactions might be at risk.
Both the US and UK governments have warned people against using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser since a security flaw in the system …
Honohan warns of deflation risk
The head of the Central Bank has said he is concerned about low inflation across the eurozone and warned that the Government must stick to budget targets following the EU-IMF bailout exit to retain market support.
The European Central Bank (ECB), where Governor Patrick Honohan is a board member, “has been concerned about low inflation not only in 2014 but in the forecasts for 2015 and 2016,” he told reporters …