Golden circle are 'heroes' - McEvaddy

BUSINESSMAN'S VIEW:BUSINESSMAN Ulick McEvaddy has defended the so-called "golden circle" of 10 investors in Anglo Irish Bank as "heroes" who showed themselves willing to take personal risk to support an important institution.

Anglo Irish Bank loaned a total of €451 million to 10 “long-standing customers” last year to buy shares in the bank, it confirmed yesterday.

In a staunch defence of the 10, Mr McEvaddy said: “I think they’re heroes. They were prepared to put themselves at risk, [put] their financial position at risk, to support the bank, and I think that is what we need to do – support the banking institutions – if we’re going to recover quickly out of this world economic war.”

Mr McEvaddy, who is chief executive of Omega Air, praised the “iconic bank”, which had “a history of being involved in very, very sound business deals” and said he would have become involved in the share deal if he had been approached.

Although he did not know who the 10 clients were, he speculated they were customers who had been “very successful as a result of the bank’s indulgence over the years”.

“So I think it was only right and natural that they would ride in to the rescue of the share price of the bank,” he added.