Ireland Nama says Needs Mortgage REITs to Help Cut Leverage

[onq]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...age-reits-to-help-cut-leverage-nama-says.html

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Ireland should introduce mortgage real estate investment trusts to help banks and the National Asset Management Agency offload bad debt stemming from loans made during the property boom, NAMA Chief Executive Officer Brendan McDonagh said.


The CEO said he asked Finance Minister Michael Noonan to consider allowing the REIT structure in Ireland to give NAMA and the banks an alternative to selling debt portfolios directly

This reminds me of the "shares in a wrapper/basket of portfolios" product that Anglo-Irish produced at the start of the Noughties.

Shortly afterward I seem to recall that then Finance Minister Brian Cowen moved to close the loophole.

At the time it seemed like another way for investors to make money out of a rising property market but avoiding the payment of Capital Gains Tax.

Mortgage REITs allow debt owners to pool commercial or residential mortgages and sell shares to investors. They don’t pay corporation or capital gains tax on profits from property investment, with shareholders taxed on dividends they receive.

I'm not certain of the ultimate benefit to the taxpayer.