Property firm €10m in red when receiver named

THE PROPERTY company behind the bid to redevelop Finglas Shopping Centre in Dublin was €10 million in the red when a receiver took over the firm recently.

Barclays appointed David Carson of Deloitte and Touche as receiver to Marumba Properties, backed by developers David Courtney and Bernard Doyle, who are shareholders in the grocery chain Superquinn and Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel.

Marumba’s statement of affairs, recently lodged in the companies’ office, shows that its liabilities outstripped its assets by just over €10 million when Mr Carson took charge of the firm in March.

The company owed the bank €14 million, which was secured against the Finglas site. The figures show that this was valued at €5 million in March.

The remaining €1 million or so shortfall was owed to trade creditors, to the local authority, which was due more than €81,000 in rates, and to the Revenue Commissioners, which were owed a small amount of VAT.

Barclays went to the High Court last year to seek the repayment of €9 million in personal loans given to Mr Doyle and Mr Courtney in connection with the project.

Developer Bernard McNamara, who is also named as a shareholder of Marumba, was not involved in that court action.

The parties subsequently settled the dispute and the case was struck out last January. Mr Carson was appointed two months later.

Marumba bought the Finglas site in 2005 and subsequently got planning permission to redevelop the shopping centre as a mixed retail and residential complex.

No substantial work was ever carried out.

Mr Doyle and Mr Courtney were big players in the Irish property boom.

They are shareholders in the Select Retail Consortium which bought Superquinn from its founder Feargal Quinn and his family in early 2005. Mr McNamara was originally involved in this group, but subsequently sold his interest to the other partners.

Mr Doyle and Mr Courtney are the principals of property consultancy Spain Courtney Doyle.