THE FORMER chairman of AIB, Dermot Gleeson, was involved in two substantial commercial property investments in 2006, the height of the property boom.
As reported on Saturday, Mr Gleeson was part of a partnership that bought property at the corner of Dawson Street and Duke Street, Dublin, in December 2006 for €20 million.
The tenant of this property, Carluccio’s restaurant, has secured a reduction in its €680,000 rent, after the restaurant said it would otherwise go out of business.
Mr Gleeson was also a member of a partnership that bought Brooklawn House, an office building on the Shelbourne Road, in Ballsbridge for €47 million in April 2006.
Both transactions were organised by D2 Private, the property investment firm established by David Arnold and Deirdre Foley. The Duke Street property was bought with a mortgage from the Bank of Ireland, while the Shelbourne Road office block was bought using a mortgage from Anglo Irish Bank.
The three children of the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, Seán Fitzpatrick, are members of the group that bought the Shelbourne road property. They are Jonathan, Sarah and David Fitzpatrick.
Jonathan Fitzpatrick is also a member of the partnership that bought the Dawson Street/Duke Street property.
The other purchasers of the Shelbourne Road property identified in mortgage documents in the Registry of Deeds are: Peter Crowley, Monkstown, Dublin; Brendan O’Mara, Stillorgan, Dublin; John Gordon, Monkstown, Dublin; Brooklawn Property Holding Company Ltd; Peter Small, Dublin 4; and Patrick Mooney, Enfield, Co Meath.
Mr Crowley is a director of Odearest Beds Ltd and other companies. Mr O’Mara is the founder of the Bruce Shaw quantity surveying firm and a director of D2. Mr Gordon is a senior counsel.
Brooklawn is a company associated with the Crampton family. Mr Small is a property investor and company director. Mr Mooney’s profession is not known.
Brooklawn Property Holding Co Ltd sold the building to the mortgage holders, according to the registry documents.
In July a further three people registered their interest in the property. A second mortgage document in the registry, dated July 2006, shows Seán Fitzpatrick, Cormac McAlinden and Declan McCourt taking out a mortgage with Anglo Irish Bank, registered against the same property. Ms Foley acted as a trustee in the assignment to Anglo of its interest in the mortgaged property.
Mr McAlinden has controlling interests in the Lithographic printing group and magazine publisher Mac Communications.
Mr McCourt is chief executive of the OHM motor group, and a director of the Bank of Ireland, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and other businesses.
Mr Fitzpatrick stood down as chairman of Anglo Irish Bank in December 2008. Mr Gleeson retired as AIB chairman in July 2009.
Mr Gleeson, a former attorney general, is a member of the Nollaig Partnership that invested in the Four Seasons Hotel development in Ballsbridge, Dublin, in 2001, and which took out a mortgage with Anglo Irish. He also owns other commercial property.
