LOW-KEY Galway developer Tom Considine owes €275 million to his banks out of total bank debts of €615 million owing by partnerships in which he is involved, according to financial statements submitted to the High Court.
The majority of the bank debts of Mr Considine’s partnerships, which have completed a number of property transactions, involve fellow investors Gerry Prendergast and Paddy Sweeney.
The three investors paid a record price for land outside Co Dublin when they bought the 331-acre Millennium Park and adjoining lands at Naas, Co Kildare, in 2006 for €315 million.
The statements show that, at July 2009, partnerships in which Mr Considine was an investor owed Allied Irish Banks (AIB) €203 million, including €143.1 million owing by the three investors on Millennium Park, which was renamed Osberstown.
Mr Considine’s share of the debts owing to AIB was €76 million, including €47 million owing to the bank on the Naas land deal.
A further €45 million is owed to Irish Nationwide on the Millennium Park transaction by the three investors, the records show.
The deal was funded with €73 million in mezzanine finance – an expensive form of short-term borrowings – a personal loan of €10 million from Dermot O’Rourke, one of the two vendors who sold the Naas lands, and €21 million in shareholder equity.
The equity component of the deal amounts to just 6.6 per cent of the overall purchase price, with the remainder borrowed from either banks or Mr O’Rourke.
The statements were submitted to the Commercial Court in a legal action taken by Mr O’Rourke who is suing Mr Considine, Mr Prendergast and Mr Sweeney for €21 million for failing to make repayments on the €10 million loan.
Mr O’Rourke claims the three businessmen agreed to the loan to be repaid over three years at a rate of 30 per cent interest a year.
Mr O’Rourke, who is himself being pursued by Bank of Scotland (Ireland) for over €16.5 million, successfully applied to the court last Monday for his case against the three men to be admitted to the court for later hearing.
According to the statements submitted in the case, the State-owned Anglo Irish Bank is owed €321.9 million by property partnerships in which Mr Considine is an investor. He owed the bank €164.3 million of these debts covering his share of the investments.
The largest exposures to the bank are in relation to €75.4 million in loans on property on Blessington Road in Dublin and loans of €60 million provided for office blocks in Naas, Co Kildare.
Among the debts to Anglo is €10.5 million owing on interest roll-up provided to the partners, of which Mr Considine is personally liable for just over €7 million.
Mr Considine and his business partners have interests in development and investment properties across the State, including properties in Dublin, Galway, Mayo, Clare, Derry and Waterford. Properties are also held overseas in London, Liverpool, South Africa, Spain and the Canary Islands.
Among the other properties is a “hunting lodge” on which Anglo is owed €1.7 million.
Ulster Bank is owed €5 million by Mr Considine and his partners, while Bank of Ireland is owed €3.2 million. Smaller sums are owed to KBC Bank and Investec Bank.
The Educational Building Society (EBS) secured judgments against Mr Considine this year, the statements say, and the lender “is in the process of registering a second charge on the whole of the Considine portfolio including properties held solely, jointly or in multiple partnerships”.
The statements, dated July 2009, say the Considine portfolio is “cross secured” and that Anglo has provided “equity releases” on existing loans for the past 12 months to fund interest payments.
