First Minister Peter Robinson's involvement in the ownership of Nama's Northern Ireland loan book continued after its sale was agreed in April last year to Cerberus, the US investment fund.
In January 2015, Mr Robinson met Jefferies LoanCore, a US real estate finance firm, days before it acquired from Cerberus the multi-million pound loans of his friend Paddy Kearney, a Gibraltar-based, Maple 10 property developer.
While there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the first minister, questions have recently been asked about why Mr Robinson hosted a secret meeting last year with Dan Quayle, the former vice president of America and leading deal maker at Cerberus. The meeting at Stormont Castle was held just 10 days before Cerberus announced in April it had secured the Nama assets for more than £1 billion – Northern Ireland's biggest ever property deal.
This year's meeting with Jefferies LoanCore was held in a hotel and local restaurant in Carrickfergus, near where Mr Kearney's company PBN Holdings – recently renamed Kilmona Holdings – owns a large industrial estate.
The meeting included Mr Robinson, Mr Kearney and at least one representative of Jefferies LoanCore, which would days later acquire the loans from Cerberus for approximately £109m. Jefferies LoanCore is a joint venture between Jefferies bank and an arm of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC Real Estate.
Mr Robinson arrived with a small entourage. It is unclear if this included any other members of the DUP or the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.
The dinner involved a group of less than 20 people and was described to The Irish News as "difficult" and "frustrating" because it had been arranged to celebrate the closing of the deal. However, the transaction had not closed on time.
Mr Kearney's initial plan had been for a party of 150 guests to celebrate the coming together of PBN Holdings and Jefferies LoanCore. The numbers were whittled down when it became clear the celebrations were premature.
A guest said that conversations with the first minister "had nothing to do with arranging the transaction, that I am aware of".
"He said he appreciated Jefferies LoanCore coming to Northern Ireland and helping property developers. Helping them to get back on the front foot."
The effect that Nama's deal with Cerberus has had on individual property developers in the north has been wide ranging. Some have worked through the Cerberus system, sometimes with their loans bought out by tertiary finance groups such as the experience Mr Kearney has had.
Many developers have not had such a positive outcome.
Belfast businessman Gareth Graham has launched legal action in an attempt to stop Cerberus from putting two of his property companies into administration.
Cerberus put Co Down-based developer John Miskelly's Ten Square hotel into administration. Receivers were also appointed to some of Mr Miskelly's other commercial properties in Belfast.
The integrity of the Nama sale was challenged after a £7.5m payment linked to work carried out for Cerberus found its way into an offshore bank account controlled by the former managing partner of Belfast law firm Tughans. Claims have been made that the money was earmarked for third parties, including a Northern Ireland politician.
Peter Robinson has denied that it was for him or his party.
Tughans also represented Paddy Kearney during negotiations with Jefferies Loancore over the purchase of his debt portfolio from Cerberus.
James Pringle, a Real Estate Partner at Tughans was the lead lawyer for Paddy Kearney.
Neither he nor anyone else from Tughans was present at the meeting in Carrickfergus. Nobody from Cerberus was present.
A statement from a Jefferies LoanCore spokesperson said: "Neither Cerberus (who were very unhappy that we didn't close the [deal] the day before) or James Pringle attended. I have no idea if they were invited or not."
While Tughans' was representing Paddy Kearney's company in January, the law firm was in the midst of a dispute with its managing partner Ian Coulter over the £7.5 million payment linked to the Cerberus deal. He left the firm that month after discussions that had been ongoing since late November broke down.
Cerberus will have been attracted to an offer from Jefferies LoanCore because it quickly gets back a large chunk of money.
Latest accounts for PBN Holdings mention a Facility Agreement made in January 2015 for an amount of up to £109,650,000. The Irish News understands this refers to the amount Jefferies LoanCore bought the debts for.
Jefferies LoanCore typically picks up a loan portfolio, such as that of PBN Holdings, for a discount on market value. It also expects the borrower, i.e PBN, to contribute some capital. Jefferies LoanCore will then put money upfront to improve the properties and help create value. It will also typically insist that some of the properties be sold off.
Jefferies LoanCore said it had secured a similar deal to that with PBN Holdings with another Cerberus debtor and is in negotiations with several others.
Such deals are often attractive to the borrowers as well as the seller as it means they typically pay back less than they originally borrowed, in Mr Kearney's instance money borrowed during boom times.
PBN's debts were placed into Nama in late 2010 and the company agreed a business plan to secure the long-term value of its £285m in property assets, which included the Savoy Centre in Glasgow and the West One Retail Park in Salford, Manchester.
Latest accounts for PBN Holdings show it made a loss of £216 million for the year to June 30 2014. The company wrote down the value of its assets, including freehold property and development land, by just under £200 million in the financial year.
Mr Kearney became the sole shareholder in the company in 2013 when he purchased a 50 per cent holding formerly held by Neil Adair, the former boss of Anglo in Northern Ireland.
Mr Kearney was one of 10 property developers who bought shares in Anglo Irish Bank during the financial crisis under a deal to slash businessman Sean Quinn's stake in the lender.
The first minister refused to comment on why he met Jeffries LoanCore.
A spokesperson from Jefferies LoanCore said the company had had no subsequent contact with Mr Robinson.
He said: "We are very pleased to be working with people like Pat Kearney. It is a very positive relationship."
A spokesman for Kilmona said: "Just over six months ago, Jefferies Loancore acquired the entirety of the Kilmona group debt from Cerberus.
"It was an excellent deal which has allowed our companies to start developing our assets again including much needed high quality residential housing in Northern Ireland and commercial property – to the extent that we've achieved more in the last six months than we had in the previous five years."
A statement from Tughans said: ``Tughans' duties of confidentiality are absolute and it does not comment on clients or their affairs. No one from Tughans attended any meeting or dinner involving Paddy Kearney, Peter Robinson and Jefferies LoanCorp.''