Ireland May Buy Anglo Irish Loans at Discount of More Than 60%

Interesting news, reflecting how enormous the overvaluation of the debt instrument is at the moment:

(Bloomberg) Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency, formed by the government to aid the nation’s ailing lenders, will apply a discount of more than 60 percent to a second batch of loans it’s buying from Anglo Irish Bank Corp., two people with direct knowledge of the plan said.

The agency, known as NAMA, will acquire more than 6 billion euros ($7.6 billion) of loans from the nationalized Irish lender in the transaction, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the details haven’t been disclosed. A spokesman for NAMA said the agency wouldn’t comment until a transfer occurred. A spokesman for Dublin-based Anglo Irish didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.
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The government took over Anglo Irish, which bankrolled many of Ireland’s property developers during the country’s building boom, after losses surged amid a slump in real-estate prices. Prices have dropped by half since peaking in 2007.

The fact that real-estate prices have already dropped by 50% is a good news for Ireland: debt and securities around it are marked down, losses are taken, and the economy, banks and individuals balance sheets are cleaned

nfortunately, a part of the debt is still remaining on the people's balance sheet, when the debt is transferred from the insolvent bank which made loans it shouldn't have, to the government.