YOU WIN some, you lose some, as the saying goes, which Irish financier Dómhnal Slattery knows only too well from his various business dealings over the past few years.
Slattery, who hails from Clare, has had a good run of late with his new aircraft-leasing business, Avolon, taking off successfully.
A few Claret Capital investments – hospital operator HCA, reinsurer Aeolus and car hire group Hertz among them – have also yielded decent returns to investors.
Not all of the Claret deals have worked out, of course. The Barry O’Callaghan-led investment in education publisher EMPG went south and low cost executive jet airline JetBird failed to take off despite much investment and planning.
In recent weeks, and with barely any publicity, Barclays Bank foreclosed on the five-star St Regis hotel in Washington DC, a Claret trophy asset located just a couple of blocks from the White House.
The St Regis was jointly owned by Claret, whose investors include Senator Feargal Quinn and his family, and Friends First Private Investment.
Unfortunately it was bought near the top of the market for about $170 million, with Claret and Friends First chipping in about $45 million between them in equity.
The financial crash blew its valuation out of the water.
The move by Barclays was hardly a surprise. The bank looked set to take charge of the property last October but Claret and its co-investor gained a late reprieve.
Barclays moved again recently as part of a wider swoop on problem loans and properties in the US.
Barclays had provided two loans totalling $135 million to finance the St Regis deal.
It is now being prepared for sale, along with the Fairmont Orchid Hawaii, Stanford Court in San Francisco and a Four Seasons in Colorado.
Reports in the US suggest that the 182-bedroom St Regis will fetch $90-100 million when it is sold on by Barclays.
It was only in May 2008, that former taoiseach Bertie Ahern made a highly publicised visit to the St Regis after addressing a joint session of the US Congress.
It seemed then that Ireland could conquer the world. We know better now.
