DBRS Confirms Guaranteed Debt of National Asset Management Limited at A (low); Trend Negative

DBRS Ratings Limited (DBRS) today has confirmed the A (low) Guaranteed Senior Unsecured Debt rating and R-1 (low) Short-Term Guaranteed Senior Unsecured Debt rating of the National Asset Management Limited (NAML or the Group). The trend on the long-term ratings is Negative while the trend on the short-term ratings is Stable. This rating action follows DBRS’s confirmation of the A (low) rating of the Republic of Ireland with a Negative trend on 22 November 2013.

National Asset Management Limited is a special purpose vehicle set up by Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) and is responsible for issuing government guaranteed debt instruments for the purposes of acquiring eligible bank assets. National Asset Management Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Asset Management Agency Investment Limited, which is 51% owned by private investors and 49% owned by NAMA. For 1H13, NAMA reported a net profit after tax of EUR 54.7 million despite absorbing an impairment charge of EUR 385 million. NAMA has indicated that it will repay EUR 500 million of the guaranteed bonds in early December 2013, reaching its target for end-2013 of EUR 7.5 billion.

As a result of the debt guarantee the ratings will move in line with the ratings of the Republic of Ireland.

Notes:
All figures are in Euros (EUR) unless otherwise noted.

The principal applicable methodology is the Global Methodology for Rating Banks and Banking Organisations. Other methodologies used include the DBRS Criteria – Intrinsic and Support Assessments. Both can be found on the DBRS website under Methodologies.

The sources of information used for this rating include company documents and DBRS ratings of the Republic of Ireland. DBRS considers the information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating was of satisfactory quality.

DBRS does not audit the information it receives in connection with the rating process, and it does not and cannot independently verify that information in every instance.

Generally, the conditions that lead to the assignment of a Negative or Positive Trend are resolved within a twelve month period. DBRS’s outlooks and ratings are under regular surveillance

For further information on DBRS historic default rates published by the European Securities and Markets Administration (“ESMA”) in a central repository, see:
http://cerep.esma.europa.eu/cerep-web/statistics/defaults.xhtml.

Ratings assigned by DBRS Ratings Limited are subject to EU regulations only.

Lead Analyst: Ross Abercromby
Rating Committee Chair: Roger Lister
Initial Rating Date: April 21, 2011
Most Recent Rating Update: November 22, 2012

DBRS Ratings Limited
1 Minster Court, 10th Floor
Mincing Lane
London
EC3R 7AA
United Kingdom
Registered in England and Wales: No. 7139960

For additional information on this rating, please refer to the linking document located at: http://www.dbrs.com/research/236983/banks-and-banking-organisations-linking-document.pdf

Information regarding DBRS ratings, including definitions, policies and methodologies are available on www.dbrs.com.