McNamara names investors in €62.5m action

DEVELOPER BERNARD McNamara has claimed the group of private investors who are seeking €62.5 million summary judgment orders against him over loans to his company towards the €412 million purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend include businessmen Lochlann Quinn and Martin Naughton, who allegedly invested €5 million each.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday reserved judgment on the investors’ application, brought through Jersey-registered company Ringsend Property Ltd, for summary judgment for €98 million against Mr McNamara’s company Donatex Ltd and for €62.5 million against Mr McNamara himself.

The personal claim arises from his January 2007 guarantee over loans to Donatex to assist in purchasing the IGB site. The judge indicated he will give his decision before December 21st.

In an affidavit to the Commercial Court, Mr McNamara said that even before the IGB site was advertised, he was approached by Brian McKiernan of Davy stockbrokers about September/October 2006 inquiring if he would be interested in “fronting” an investment by private clients of Davy for the purchase and development of the site.

He said he was separately contacted about October 2006 by Paul Maloney, then chief executive of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, inquiring if he would be interested in bidding jointly with the DDDA for the site.

Mr McNamara said he was not initially convinced the development was viable but following representations by Mr Maloney, including that the DDDA could fast-track any planning application, he decided it was worth pursuing.

Davy Stockbrokers were also aware of the actions of the DDDA in seeking partners for development of the IGB site, he said. The timescale for the investment by the Davy investors was seven years, to 2014, and the investors were wealthy and experienced Irish investors, he said.

Mr McNamara named those investors and their alleged stakes as Kieran McLaughlin (€4 million); Barry O’Callaghan (€5 million); Martin Naughton (€5 million); Coolmore Stud (€5 million), Lochlann Quinn (€5 million); the Keating Family (€5 million); Louis Ronan (€5 million); Gowan Group (€4 million); Bernie Carroll (€4 million) and Larry Keegan (€4 million).

In an affidavit, David Goddard, a director of Davy, said there was no merit to any of the defences offered by Mr McNamara to the application for summary judgment against him. Mr McNamara’s naming of the investors and identification of their various stakes was “scandalous” and “inaccurate”, he said. Mr Goddard said it was also inaccurate of Mr McNamara to suggest Davy had volunteered the investment by their private clients in the IGB site.

Mr McNamara and Donatex have alleged the DDDA was never entitled to enter in November 2006 into an agreement involving Mr McNamara and developer Derek Quinlan related to development of the IGB site which had left Mr McNamara facing potential claims totalling more than €108 million.