DBRS Confirms LT Gteed Debt of National Asset Management Ltd at A (low); Trend Revised to Positive

DBRS Ratings Limited (DBRS) has today confirmed the A (low) Guaranteed Senior Unsecured Debt rating of National Asset Management Limited (NAML or the Group). The trend on the Long-Term rating has been revised to Positive from Stable. The R-1 (low) Short-Term Guaranteed Senior Unsecured Debt rating is confirmed with its Stable trend. This rating action follows DBRS’s confirmation of the A (low) rating of the Republic of Ireland and the trend change to Positive from Stable on September 26, 2014.

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 the three month period to end-March 2014, NAMA reported a net profit after tax of EUR 190.2 million.

Following the redemption of EUR 7 billion of senior notes in 2014, NAMA has now redeemed in total EUR 14.5 billion of notes, equivalent to 48% of the debt originally issued to acquire the bank assets. By end-September 2014, NAMA had also redeemed EUR 12.8 billion of senior bonds in respect of the acquisition of the IBRC loan facility deed and floating charge, leaving a residual balance of only EUR 0.1 billion.

As a result of the guarantee, the ratings will move in line with the rating 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 (June 2014). Other methodologies used include the DBRS Criteria: Support Assessment for Banks and Banking Organisations (January 2014) and DBRS Criteria: Rating Bank Capital Securities – Subordinated, Hybrid, Preferred & Contingent Capital Securities (December 2013). The rating methodologies and criteria used in the analysis of this transaction can be found at: http://www.dbrs.com/about/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: Alan G. Reid
Initial Rating Date: April 21, 2011
Most Recent Rating Update: April 3, 2014

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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

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