LIAM CARROLL’S Zoe group, one of the country’s largest property businesses, is on the brink of collapse after the Supreme Court extinguished any hope of it securing protection to guarantee its long-term survival.
The court ruled yesterday the group should not have been allowed by the High Court to pursue a second bid for protection.
The successful appeal of the High Court’s ruling is a victory for the Dutch-owned ACCBank, the only lender to the Zoe group to oppose its proposed rescue plan.
The ruling brings to an end the 11-week pursuit of court protection by the group which has bank debts totalling almost €1.3 billion.
The court’s decision leaves 51 companies across the heavily insolvent group exposed to actions by its lenders who are expected to move to seize control of properties securing their loans.
ACC has already appointed a receiver to seize control of four companies that own large development lands at Upper Sheriff Street and East Road in the north docklands near Dublin city centre.
The lands are near another of Zoe’s substantial properties, the unfinished new headquarters for State-owned Anglo-Irish Bank on North Wall Quay.
The failure to secure court protection also leaves Mr Carroll’s two other property groups, Dunloe and Orthanc, exposed to potential actions to recover debts.
The groups, which own substantial lands in Cherrywood and Tallaght in south Dublin, owe sums to Zoe companies which no longer have any chance of securing legal protection from their creditors.
One of the State’s most prolific developers, Mr Carroll was one of the biggest builders of apartment blocks in Dublin but more recently branched out into commercial properties such as shops, hotels and office buildings.
He is expected to be among the first and largest borrowers to come under the control of the Government’s “bad bank”, the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), which will buy loans with a face value of €77 billion across the domestic banking sector at a discount of €54 billion.