High Court orders three firms be wound up

Hugh O'Regan case:THE HIGH Court has made an order winding up three companies controlled by hotelier Hugh O'Regan.

Yesterday Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan appointed Kieran Wallace of KPMG as liquidator following an application from the companies’ directors to have Thomas Read Holdings, Dashaven and Clubko wound up.

The court heard that between them the three companies owe Irish Nationwide Building Society and Anglo Irish Bank more than €190 million. The firms’ total liabilities over assets are estimated at €122 million.

Less than two weeks ago Mr Wallace was appointed as interim examiner of the firms which sought the protection of the court in a bid to trade out of their financial difficulties.

Thomas Read Holdings (TRH) is a holding company for a number of Mr O’Regan’s property companies and owns a property at No 4 Parliament Street in Dublin city centre.

A subsidiary of TRH operates the Morrison Hotel on Dublin’s Ormond Quay, which employs 120 people, under a hotel operating lease.

Clubko owns No 8 St Stephen’s Green in Dublin city centre, which previously housed the Hibernian United Services Club, and Mr O’Regan hopes to redevelop it as a new private members’ club.

Dashaven is the company behind the Kilternan hotel redevelopment, which is almost complete.

Yesterday Bernard Dunleavy, for the companies, informed Mr Justice Sheehan that there was now a realisation that the companies could not be saved and the directors were seeking an order to have the firms wound up.

Mr Dunleavy also argued that the financial institutions would not be prejudiced or “affected at all” by the appointment of a liquidator. The court heard that Irish Nationwide is owed more than €170 million by Dashaven arising out of the redevelopment of the Kilternan Hotel and Country Club in Dublin.

Anglo Irish Bank is owed more than €22 million in relation to TRH and Clubko, although Mr O’Regan is believed to have personal and corporate borrowings from the bank of approximately €80 million.

Both Anglo Irish Bank and Irish National Building Society had opposed the appointment of a liquidator on the grounds that it was not necessary because they planned to appoint receivers to the companies.

Counsel for the institutions, Rossa Fanning for Anglo and Robert Fitzpatrick for Irish Nationwide, argued that the appointment of a liquidator would result in additional costs being incurred.

The court heard Anglo had appointed Martin Ferris of Ferris Associates as receiver. He then stood aside pending the outcome of any examinership hearing. Nationwide intends to appoint a receiver to Dashaven.

Both financial institutions had also opposed the company’s application to go into examinership.

Late last month the companies obtained an emergency order at a sitting of the High Court at the home of Mr Justice Vivian Lavan which allowed them temporary protection against a move by Anglo Irish Bank to take control of a number of properties connected to two of the firms.

The case was before the High Court yesterday after the companies had been granted an adjournment to allow parties time to consider an independent accountant’s report which was not ready for the application before Mr Justice Lavan.

The companies sought the appointment of an examiner after Anglo Irish Bank had moved to appoint a receiver to two of them – Thomas Read Holdings and Clubko.