Lloyds appoints receiver to three Irish hotels owned by McNamara

BRITISH BANK Lloyds has appointed a receiver to three hotels, including the Burlington in Dublin, over debts of more than €200 million owed by property developer Bernard McNamara.

Paul McCann of Grant Thornton has taken control of the hotels, including the five-star Parknasilla in Co Kerry and the Cork International Airport Hotel, as well as the former Ormond Hotel on the north quays in Dublin.

The three hotels will remain open, said Mr McCann, and all bookings and deposits for events will be honoured. The group’s 250 employees will retain their jobs.

Mr McCann said there were no immediate plans to sell any of the hotels. “The bank wanted to take possession of the assets and look to evaluate the options,” he said.

“They are not going to be sold at bargain-basement prices. I am sure they will come on the market in due course but we would want to see some other big sales on the market first.”

There are 150 people employed at the Burlington, 70 in Parknasilla and 30 in Cork International. The Parknasilla is closed for a tourist off-season but will reopen in March.

The Ormond closed in 2006 shortly after Mr McNamara purchased the property. He tried unsuccessfully to sell it in 2009.

Lloyds, which is part-owned by the British government, has moved more decisively on properties supporting loans at the former Bank of Scotland (Ireland). The bank, which the British lender closed down last year, has loans of €30 billion.

Decisions on the loans are taken by Lloyds subsidiary Bank of Scotland in Britain and executed by Certus, an independent company set up by former Bank of Scotland (Ireland) management which provides banking services to Lloyds.

Mr McNamara was one of the most prolific developers during the property boom and one of the biggest borrowers at Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and the Irish banks.

He acquired the Parknasilla hotel in Sneem, Co Kerry, for almost €40 million when seven of the eight hotels in the Great Southern chain were sold in 2006.

He purchased the Burlington for €288 million in 2007 in a deal that involved Bank of Scotland (Ireland) as a joint venture partner in his planned redevelopment of the Dublin 4 hotel and adjacent site.

An investor in the Superquinn supermarket chain and the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, Mr McNamara also ran the building company, Michael McNamara and Co, and was behind some of the State’s biggest residential developments and speculative projects.