A run-down on the ten developers who are going into Nama
LIAM CARROLL
Who is he?Forever associated with the "shoebox apartments" he built in inner-city Dublin in the early to mid-1990s, Liam Carroll was one of the biggest players in both the residential and commercial property markets during the boom. One of the State's most reclusive developers, ironically he became one of the best known due to the high-profile collapse of his Zoe group building empire last summer.
Main property companies/ investment interests: His labyrinthine Zoe group of properties collapsed into receivership and liquidation last year with debts of €1.3 billion. Among properties now being transferred to Nama is the Anglo Irish Bank headquarters in Dublin's north docklands (right), which became a symbol of Ireland's property and financial collapse.
The debt problems also spread to another Carroll company, Orthanc Group, which is behind his projects in Tallaght, although the main creditor, Ulster Bank, is not involved in Nama. No insolvency action has yet been taken against Carroll’s third property group, Dunloe.
AIB is the largest lender to the Zoe group. It is estimated that the bank is owed about €530 million by the group.
SEÁN MULRYAN
Who he is? From Roscommon, Seán Mulryan set up property company Ballymore in 1982. Well known in racing circles, he lives in Co Kildare. At its peak, Ballymore had a £15 billion development plan in Britain, Ireland and Europe.
Main property companies/ investment interests: Ballymore's development interests extend from the Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge (right), which he co-owns with Seán Dunne, to a huge swathe of commercial development land in London's docklands.
At the peak of the property boom, Ballymore was developing 18,000 homes and some four million sq ft of commercial space in Britain alone, notably in London's docklands. It also had extensive interests in eastern Europe, Prague, Berlin and Bratislava.
It is thought that the landbanks in the East End of London, owned by Ballymore, are likely to fall under Nama's control and could be a source of cashflow for the agency in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics.
Mulryan has substantial borrowings from Anglo and Irish Nationwide, although Ballymore does not publish full accounts because it is unlisted.
DEREK QUINLAN
Who is he?A former tax consultant and financial adviser, Quinlan founded property investment firm Quinlan Private more than 20 year ago. A former resident of Shrewsbury Road, Dublin 4, he now lives in Switzerland. He resigned from Quinlan Private last year.
Main property companies/ investment interests: Quinlan Private has typically been involved in large-scale syndicated property investments that attract the very wealthy.
Initially focused on the Irish market, with remarkable speed the firm and its clients spent more than €11 billion building up its international portfolio.
Among its early high-profile projects was the €1.1 billion purchase of the Savoy hotel (right) group in 2004. Quinlan also personally invested €700 million buying half of the 42-storey Citigroup building in Londons docklands.
Quinlan was part of a consortium of investors who bought the Bank of Ireland headquarters on Baggot Street in Dublin in 2006 for €200 million, while Quinlan Private bought Jurys Inn from the then Jurys Doyle hotel group in 2007 for €1.16 billion.
JOE O'REILLY
Who is he? Best known as the developer behind the Dundrum Town Centre, Longford man Joe OReilly co-founded his main property firm, Castlethorn, in the mid-1980s. He lives in Foxrock, Co Dublin.
Main property companies/ investment interests: Castlethorn is the linchpin of his business interests and includes the Dundrum centre (right) and developments in Adamstown, west Dublin. His company, Chartered Land, sold the retail element of the South King Street scheme in Dublin to Anglo Irish Bank at the peak of the property boom for €101 million. Among OReillys most prominent residential developments are Avoca and Carysfort in Blackrock, Dublin, Belarmine at Stepaside in south Dublin, and Woodbrook in Castleknock, west Dublin, and a housing development on the Killeen Castle golf estate in Co Meath.
O'Reilly could net multimillion- euro profits in the next few weeks as he sells off a number of central London properties which he co- owns with builder Paddy McKillen.
O'Reilly has extensive loans with Anglo Irish Bank and was named as one of the Anglo 10 last year.
GERRY GANNON
Who is he? From Co Roscommon, Gerry Gannon, the founder of Gannon Homes, co-owns the K Club golf resort at Straffan, Co Kildare, with businessman Michael Smurfit. The two acquired the resort from the then Jefferson Smurfit Group in 2005 for €115 million.
Main property companies/ investment interests: Gannon Homes was begun in 1984 to develop small residential projects in north Co Wicklow and on the outskirts of Dublin.
He bought the 200-acre Belcamp College site in north Dublin (right) in 2004 for €105 million, which is still being developed. The plan was to develop a medical campus for the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) on a 60-acre portion of the site. That has been put on hold until the Nama transfer is complete. Up to 700 acres of zoned land belonging to Gannon, mainly in north Dublin, are expected to be transferred to Nama, along with other properties. Gannon has estimated loans of more than €1 billion. Gannon Homes was also behind the Robswall development in Malahide, the Plaza shopping centre in Swords and the Rockfield development in Dundrum.
Gannon was also named as one of the Anglo Irish "golden circle".
MICHAEL O'FLYNN
Who is he?Cork developer Michael O'Flynn, chairman and managing director of O'Flynn Construction, has been one of the few developers to speak openly about Nama. In interviews with RTÉ and
The Irish Times, he conceded that builders had a role to play in the property collapse, but denied Nama was a bailout for the industry.
Main property companies/ investment interests: O'Flynn Construction has been in business for 30 years and is one of the best known construction companies in Munster. One of its more high-profile projects is the high-end residential development, Elysian Tower in Cork city (right), Ireland's tallest building at 83 metres.
In 1999, the group established a separate company, Tiger Developments Ltd, to pursue property development and investment in the United Kingdom and Europe.
The company has an estimated €1 billion worth of projects under way in Ireland and abroad. It opted for unlimited status in 2005, so no recent financial figures are publicly available.
In 2007, O'Flynn Construction acquired a 9.2 per cent stake in Blackrock International Land, the listed property firm spun out from fruit importers Fyffes.
BERNARD McNAMARA
Who is he? He hit the headlines earlier this year when he announced to the nation, in an RTÉ radio interview, that he was "broke". His surprisingly candid comments came after the Commercial Court issued a personal judgment for €62.5 million against him and in favour of investors who put money into the purchase of the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend, Dublin, in 2006. The Ailesbury Road resident is probably the best-known Irish property developer.
Main property companies/ investment interests:McNamara's loans are spread across Nama banks AIB and Anglo, and the non-Nama Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and Ulster Bank. He has debts of about €1.5 billion. McNamara's one-sixth ownership of the Shelbourne Hotel (left), which he and his fellow investors bought for €120 million with borrowings from Bank of Ireland, will come under the control of Nama if the property has been provided as collateral for loans financing developments involving the various investors. During the Glass Bottle case, the High Court was told that all the equity in his personal assets had been used to support his businesses.
GERRY BARRETT
Who he is: Former teacher Gerry Barrett, a Galway native, made his first foray into property in the early 1980s when he bought a shop on William Street in Galway. Another Irish developer who made the transition to hotels, he owns the G Hotel in Galway (right) and Ashford Castle in Mayo.
Main property companies/ investment interests: Barrett has extensive property interests across the country.
His company, Edward Holdings, built the Edward Square development in Donnybrook, Dublin, and bought the former Jesuit student residence, Hatch Hall, at Lower Hatch Street, Dublin, in 2004 for over €16 million.
The company was also behind the Scotch Hall development in Drogheda.
It is understood that Ashford Castle will not be included in Nama's portfolio because the loans on it are issued by a bank that is not covered by the Government's asset-recovery scheme.
Barrett is also a shareholder in the energy company, Topaz. Last year Edward Holdings emerged as the buyer of the Enwest oil terminal in Galway Harbour Enterprise Park in a deal valued at more than €30 million.
COSGRAVE BROTHERS
Who are they? Originally from Churchtown in south Dublin, Joe, Peter (left) and Michael were still in their early 20s when they began their foray into house-building, starting with a handful of houses in Bluebell, west Dublin, and five housing sites in Stillorgan.
Main property companies/ investment interests: The brothers steadily built up an array of mainly residential developments, predominantly in the Dublin area in the 1980s and 1990s. Schemes from this time include the first wave of exclusive developments in south Dublin that became a feature of the Celtic Tiger era, such as the Sweepstakes in Ballsbridge, Donnybrook Manor on Morehampton Road, Shrewsbury in Ballsbridge, and the Orchard in Ranelagh.
They are involved in developing Dún Laoghaire golf course (left), following protracted negotiations with the members and the local council. Other commercial developments include the development of the West End Retail Park in Blanchardstown Centre. They own the five-star Radisson SAS St Helen's Hotel in Booterstown, Co Dublin, which was built for €38 million. They also have property interests in the UK.
TREASURY HOLDINGS
Who are they? Treasury Holdings is owned by Johnny Ronan and Richard Barrett, although Ronan announced earlier this month that he was taking a break from his business activities for the next few months following media coverage of his personal life. Despite being one of the first developers to move to Nama, Treasury will be Namas landlord, as the agency will be based at the NTMA headquarters on Grand Canal Street, which is owned by Treasury.
Main property companies/ investment interests: Treasury owns a large number of commercial and retail properties in Dublin as well as the Battersea power station in London.Treasury's website says it controls more than 131 property projects with a total value of over €4.6 billion.
John Bruder, managing director, told
The Irish Timeslast year that it expected "a lot, if not all" of its portfolio to move to Nama, although he emphasised that none of the loans are distressed.