Publican Dan McGrattan is asking the High Court to appoint a liquidator to the company behind his McGrattan’s pub in Dublin city on foot of an alleged debt of €1.5 million to him.
His winding-up petition for G-Mac Holdings LC, brought as a creditor allegedly owed €1.5 million, comes amid moves by debt servicing firm Mars Capital Finance Ireland to take possession of the Fitzwilliam Lane pub on foot of an alleged €1 million debt.
The High Court on Monday heard Mars Capital, an alleged secured creditor, opposes the winding up. Lawyers for the estate of McGrattan’s late brother, Robert McGrattan, (also an alleged creditor) sought time to submit a written response to the petition.
In documents to the court, McGrattan, who lives in Dublin, is a director of G-Mac Holdings LC. He says he has advanced the petition “exclusively in his capacity as a creditor”. He sent a letter of demand for payment of €1.5 million last November, but, he says, this letter “has not been returned” and the sum has not been paid.
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He alleges the company’s debt to him arises out of a €92,000 mortgage debenture from 2011 that is secured as a first-ranking charge over the pub. He says the company has “no effective management presence within the State”, is unable to pay its debts, and should be wound up for “just and equitable” reasons.
The freehold interest in McGrattan’s Public House at 76/77 Fitzwilliam Lane and some parking spaces around Merrion Square are the only assets of single-purpose holding vehicle G-Mac Holdings LC, which was incorporated in Florida in the United States.
McGrattan, a long-term partner of former RTÉ newsreader Anne Doyle, is also a director of BBB Taverns Limited, which leases the pub property.
Mars Capital’s claim for possession of the pub building is due to be heard by the High Court on Thursday.
On Monday, McGrattan’s senior counsel, Gary McCarthy, instructed by O’Sullivan & Associates, said he wants his winding-up petition heard before or alongside Mars Capital’s case.
Eamon Marray, Mars Capital’s senior counsel instructed by Healy Pentony Solicitors, told the court his client’s case was brought ahead of the petition. He will be opposing the liquidation application, he said.
Judge Marguerite Bolger gave Mars Capital and the estate of Robert McGrattan two weeks to submit written replies to the petition application, which she said can be mentioned on Thursday to the judge hearing Mars Capital’s possession case.
The possession case, brought in 2024 with a receiver Mars Capital appointed over the pub building, is against G-Mac Holdings and the occupants of the pub property – BBB Taverns Limited and Gallery Entertainment Limited.
Mars Capital claims its debt, secured against the bar, arose out of Bank of Ireland loans to the company in 2014 and 2023. It says it purchased G-Mac Holdings’s loans from Bank of Ireland in 2023.
G-Mac Holdings has repeatedly defaulted on repayments and failed to pay the total balance on demand in July 2024, according to Mars Capital and receiver Declan McDonald, of PwC.
The company also failed to pay rent to McDonald since his appointment in mid-2024, while his efforts to secure possession of the property have not been successful, their case alleges.
Last year Dan McGrattan issued a separate case against G-Mac Holdings and Mars Capital asking the High Court to declare that his charge over the pub property is the “first ranking charge”, while Mars Capital’s purported mortgage and charge are void.
He wants the court to restrain Mars Capital from interfering with his interests and rights and to declare that it had no entitlement to appoint a receiver.
