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The IFA is calling on farmers and auctioneers not to engage with attempts by vulture funds to sell farmland over the heads of the landowners. The move comes following the failure of repeated attempts by the IFA to engage with the vulture funds on behalf of farm families anxious to achieve a negotiated settlement of their debts.
“This campaign is standing firmly behind farmers who are committed to implementing a credible solution,” said IFA president Joe Healy.
“Farmers must be allowed to pay their debts over an appropriate timeframe.”
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The IFA accused the vulture funds of not showing any genuine interest in reaching a negotiated settlement.
“We have been trying to interact on behalf of our farmers [with Link Asset Services] but to be honest with you, we may as well be talking to the wall,” said Martin Stapleton, the IFA’s farm business chair.
Link Asset Services is representing the interests of Cerberus, the fund that bought an estimated €125m of farm loans from Ulster Bank.
Stapleton spoke of the “ever-increasing aggressiveness” of Promontoria/Cerberus, and described the issues presented by that sale as “a huge challenge, a challenge that we must address in a more robust way”.
“[Farmers’] level of security tends to be greater than other sectors of the economy and it has maintained strong value,” Stapleton said.
“It means the vulture fund see it as possible to recover all of their money plus their costs immediately by appointing a receiver and forcing through a farm sale.”
Stapleton maintained that for non-farm cases, vulture funds were operating a different regime where “deals are being done on the basis of repayment capacity”.
Stapleton described the prospect of AIB proceeding with a sale of loans to a vulture fund as “catastrophic”.
The IFA is due to meet AIB for talks shortly.
It is hard to quantify the number of farm families affected by significant debt. Last year, in an interview with the Irish Farmers Journal, Stapleton estimated that about 2,500 farm families come into this category. On Wednesday, he reviewed that figure upwards.
“It is on the entitlement to having debt restructured based on repayment capacity that we will fight our case,” Stapleton said.
“Should a farm family commit to doing so, they should be given time to repay their debts in accordance with their repayment capacity.
“It is not acceptable for any loan owner not to facilitate debt repayment over a suitable period of time.”
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