Car dealer Bill Cullen has consented to an €8.2 million judgment being entered against him at the Commercial Court in favour of Danske Bank over unpaid loans.
On the application of Rossa Fanning, for the bank, Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan entered summary judgment in that amount yesterday against Mr Cullen of Osberstown House, Sallins, Co Kildare. Counsel for Mr Cullen said he was consenting to judgment and it was anticipated a planned property sale would reduce the judgment sum.
Mr Fanning said a receiver had been appointed over secured properties and Mr Cullen would be entitled to proceeds out of that.
The case arose from a €8.1 million loan advanced to Mr Cullen in April 2011 to restructure an existing loan. It was to be repaid by April 2012 but the bank claimed no repayments were made by Mr Cullen since November 2011.
The bank said it tried to work with Mr Cullen since February 2012 to achieve a solution but issued the proceedings last month after it became clear a negotiated restructuring of Mr Cullen’s obligations would not be possible.
The bank’s application also comes after receivers were appointed by Ulster Bank last month over Mr Cullen’s Glencullen Holdings, which operates car dealerships in Swords and Liffey Valley in Dublin.
Ulster Bank is owed an estimated €12 million while Mr Cullen, owed some €19.5 million, is Glencullen’s biggest creditor. Mr Cullen lost the Renault dealership last August, having held the national franchise from 1986 to 2007.
Danske Bank said the €8.1 million loan was secured by mortgages over the Antrim Arms guesthouse at Upper Drumcondra Road, Dublin, and assignment of a lease on property at Upper Drumcondra Road with annual rental income of €180,000 to Citygate Motors Airside.
After the loan went into arrears, the bank demanded payment in June and October 2012. On October 10th, the bank demanded €8.2 million and warned of proceedings. The next day, it appointed a receiver. In an affidavit, Donal Scully of Danske Bank said he visited the secured properties in August and it appeared tenants were trading. Given Mr Cullen’s failure to pass on rent, the bank decided to examine the appointment of a receiver, he said.
