A Commission of Investigation appointed to examine the sale of assets in Northern Ireland by the State's National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) found the strategy "was appropriate in the circumstances", but has raised issues regarding the agency's handling of conflicts of interest.
The probe examined the disposal of a portfolio of loans called Project Eagle to US fund Cerberus in 2014 for £1.3 billion following significant political controversy about the sale.
The report examined the role of Frank Cushnahan a well-known businessman from the North who was a member of the committee set up to advise NAMA on the sale.
A bidder for the portfolio, US group Pimco, disclosed in 2014 that it planned to pay a success fee to Mr Cushnahan who had been a member of NAMA's committee between 2010 and 2013.
Pimco withdrew from the bidding after it learned NAMA was unaware of the arrangement.
The report found that the management of the conflicts of interest disclosed by Mr Frank Cushnahan, "while carried out in good faith, was not appropriate in the circumstances".
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The report found NAMA should have inquired further into Mr Cushnahan's disclosures.
It said: "The absence of this clarification from Mr Cushnahan left NAMA with insufficient information to properly manage Mr Cushnahan's declarations."
It added that it would have been better if the minutes of the Northern Ireland Advisory Board had recorded disclosures of conflicts of interest.
The commission found that the involvement of Mr Cushnahan, in a meeting in June 2012, "was not appropriate in the circumstances and should have precipitated action on the part of NAMA to investigate fully Mr Cushnahan's prior disclosures".
The commission found that NAMA "correctly and robustly declined to sanction any fee to be paid to Mr Cushnahan for his advice to the Chairman of the Debtor Entity and that none of the Board members, Chair nor CEO were aware of the meeting until after it had taken place".
The commission said it accepted that the failure by NAMA to reappoint Mr Cushnahan to NAMA's Northern Ireland advisory board "would have been highly politically sensitive and damaged North/South relations".
The report found that the then NAMA chairman Frank Daly "should have brought Mr Cushnahan’s disclosures to the attention of the NAMA Board in advance of them considering the reappointment of the external members".
This would have enabled the NAMA board to "make an informed and considered decision".
The report said it "has identified some aspects of the process that are subject to criticism, albeit that these issues did not impact on the price ultimately achieved for the portfolio which was £1.322 billion".
But the commission of investigation said the application of an adjustment of £85 million in relation to some properties "was not appropriate".
The report also called into question a valuation of the portfolio used by NAMA CEO Brendan McDonagh which was "not mathematically precise" but it said it represented a "reasonable estimate".
The report said a board meeting to decide on a minimum price for the sale of the assets failed to formally record its decision but added this had "no effect" on the sales process.
It was also critical of a decision to set a minimum price below the book value of the portfolio without it being properly documented.
It also raised issues regarding the record keeping in relation to the decision that the portfolio be purchased in cash.
The commission found that the initially restricted timeframe imposed by NAMA "was problematic and was a contributory factor for some potential bidders deciding not to participate, or continue to participate" in the sales process but said it was following advice from Lazard who it had appointed to advise on the sales process.
In a statement, NAMA said it "welcomed" the publication of the commission's investigation and which it said confirmed that the best price achievable was secured and that the sales process was "managed appropriately".
