THE PROPERTY developer Bernard McNamara, believed up to recently to be one of the wealthiest people in the State, is “no longer a person of significant net worth”, the High Court was told yesterday.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly of the Commercial Court has held over a decision to today on whether to grant a stay on a €62.5 million judgment against Mr McNamara.
The judgment could “trigger” further claims against him that could in turn threaten the survival of his group of businesses.
The court was told Mr McNamara’s group of businesses directly or indirectly supply a livelihood to more than 1,100 people.
One of the top figures associated with the property boom, Mr McNamara, who lives on Dublin’s Ailesbury Road, is behind the Elm Park development on Merrion Road in Dublin, the refurbished Shelbourne Hotel on St Stephen’s Green, and other property and hotel ventures around the State.
He was part of a consortium that bought the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend, Dublin, for more than €400 million, one of the bigger property transactions of the boom. In March 2007 he purchase the Burlington Hotel in Dublin for €288 million.
Yesterday a letter concerning his circumstances was read out in court by John Gleeson, counsel for a group of investors who put €62.5 million towards the purchase of the glass bottle site by a consortium that involved Mr McNamara.
The investors have successfully sought the return of their investment but Mr McNamara and his company, Donatex, are seeking a stay on the order, which was made on December 18th.
In a letter dated December 23rd, 2009, solicitors for Mr McNamara acknowledged that neither he nor Donatex could satisfy the judgments against them. The judgment against Mr McNamara is for €62.5 million and that against Donatex is for €98.14 million.
Mr McNamara “does not at this time have any unencumbered assets. All of the equity in his personal assets has been utilised to support his various businesses and over 1,100 people” who earn their livelihood through him, the letter said.
The solicitors said Mr McNamara would be willing to pay €100,000 per month pending an appeal he would take to the Supreme Court, if a stay were granted.
Mr McNamara and Donatex are seeking to have their investment in the Ringsend project indemnified by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which was also involved in the deal.
If Mr McNamara is unsuccessful in this claim, it will effectively “wind up” him and Donatex, said his counsel, Martin Hayden. The registration of a judgment against Mr McNamara could trigger other claims against him, the court was told.
Mr Gleeson said on the basis of the letter read to court, Mr McNamara was “no longer a person of significant net worth”, as he was described in the legal documents drawn up in relation to the Ringsend deal.
Because of the interest payments he is making, Mr McNamara’s position gets worse every day, he said. A stay on the order could prompt other creditors to try to get in first, he said. “They would be foolish not to.”