Clerys wind-up could take another two years, liquidators say

The liquidators of Clerys say the winding up of the old Dublin department store is being delayed by legal proceedings and could take a further two years to complete. They also confirm they have made reports to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) about the alleged conduct of its directors.

Eamonn Richardson and Kieran Wallace, the KPMG insolvency specialists appointed by the High Court to wind up OCS Operations, the Clerys operating business, have filed documents with the Companies Registration Office outlining their activities over the first year of the liquidation, up until June this year.

The documents show the liquidators realised €2.21 million over the first 12 months following the closure, including €810,000 from a sale of its assets, and the recovery of a “non-trade” debt of €241,000.

OCS Operations also received €485,000 from the Department of Social Welfare towards the payment of statutory redundancy to the more than 100 directly employed staff who lost their jobs when the store was shuttered.

Offloaded

The liquidators state that OCS had €626,000 cash in its accounts when they took control, hours after the store was bought by Deirdre Foley’s Natrium consortium, which immediately offloaded the operating company for €1 to insolvency accountants.

The liquidators made payouts of €1.81 million over the year, including legal fees of €222,000 and a payment to concessionaires of €654,000. A further €24,000 was paid out in “professional fees”, which are not explained further.

Almost €100,000 was paid in rates to the council, although a refund of almost that amount is also listed as due. Unsecured creditors are listed at almost €11.5 million.

The liquidators are obliged to state how long the wind-up is likely to take, and estimated “18-24 months”. “Ongoing legal proceedings” were blamed for the delay. Some creditors, including cafe operator Lorraine Sweeney, have queried the liquidation in the courts.

The liquidators also state they made two so-called “section 682 reports” to the ODCE about the alleged conduct of the directors of OCS Operations prior to the liquidation.