Majority of Fordmount debts are to Anglo Irish
THE troubled Fordmount Property Group in Limerick, which has net liabilities of over €200m, owes the vast bulk of that sum – in the region of €180m – to Anglo Irish Bank.
Of the 50 creditors to the Fordmount Property Group and two of its subsidiaries, some 20 are believed to be of "significant" value and between them are owed up to 15m, the Limerick Leader has learned.
Bank of Ireland is also owed several million by the group, while Bank of Scotland was also a lender to the group. Among the creditors are the buildings contractors, John Sisk & Co Ltd, who were the main contractors for the majority of Fordmount's developments, including the construction of the iconic 15-storey Riverpoint building.
Architects, engineers and other construction firms are believed to be owed considerable sums from the fallen property empire. However, the process of receivership in this case is expected to last up to a year, while more creditors are expected to be discovered in the coming weeks.
It has also emerged that the company has unsecured contingency liabilities relating to the retirement village constructed at Castletroy. Tax breaks were a key selling point in the development and Fordmount is now exposed as a result of 'buy back' obligations.
Some of the company's assets are expected to be sold off in the new year, but not as part of a "quick fire sale". A receiver based at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Billy O'Riordan, was appointed to the Fordmount Property Group last week, after Anglo Irish Bank, one of the major lenders, hired forensic accountants Cooney Carey to investigate the portfolio of property firms. The accountants had also raised concerns regarding the management of the property group and the application of funds raised from the bank.
PricewaterhouseCoopers have now written to creditors of these companies asking them to detail what debts they are owed. The directors of each of the three companies are due to submit the statement of affairs in the New Year.
New accounts obtained by this newspaper also show that the developer behind the companies, Michael Daly, resigned from a total of 14 property companies this year. However, he has since become involved with another property firm in Limerick.
While Mr Daly resigned as director from these companies, he is still majority shareholder of Fordmount. Two months after he left Fordmount he was appointed director of Limerick Property Management Services - working alongside director Noel Harrington.
Mr Harrington was suspended from his position as senior manager Irish Nationwide Building Society this year, following investigations into how he handled the €36m account of another local property developer. Mr Daly's appointment to this firm was signed off this October by Mr Harrington. Around the same time the company applied for a new annual return date.
Company accounts show that Tenby Properties Limited, another company which Mr Daly was a former director, was dissolved this September, having been in operation since 2004.
A number of Limerick shareholders had bought into the firm, which had been used as a property holding company for a property in Portugal.
Since leaving the accountancy firm Grant Thornton, Daly set up a host of property companies in 2004. Outside of Limerick, he has managed property in Munich, Germany, through Executive Investment Holdings, formerly known as Daly Capital Investments Ltd.
Another associated company, Daly Capital Holdings Limited, was renamed as German Capital Investments Ltd this year.
However, he stepped down as both company secretary and company director from both of these firms also.
In the abridged accounts for Executive Investment Holding, the company had creditors amounting to €4.8m falling within one year, with other creditors owed €10m. In one year, the shareholders fund for Executive Investment Holding decreased from €8.8m in 2007 to just over €573,000 in 2008.
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