Ireland

Irish consumers continue to save and shirk new loans in favour of paying down existing debt, leading to a significant change in the Irish banking market, the Irish Times reported. Figures from the Central Bank show that household lending slumped by 3.5 per cent in April, compared with the same period in 2015, as mortgage loans fell by € 176 million during the month, or by 2.3 per cent in the year. Households repaid € 1.8 billion more than was advanced in new loans.
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Members of Sean Quinn’s family are opposing an application for court orders to stop them receiving any further living expenses out of accounts controlled by receivers appointed over assets linked to Quinn companies, the Irish Times reported. It is alleged the living expense payments from the relevant accounts are no longer necessary because the financial circumstances of a number of family members have changed “significantly” since the living expense orders were made in 2012.
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Worldview Capital, the Swiss-Cayman Islands hedge fund that is buying Petroceltic International out of examinership, is gaining full control of the business for a knockdown cash payment of $7.8 million, the Irish Times reported. Creditors of Petroceltic will meet next Monday to vote on a scheme of arrangement assembled by the examiner, Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton. The scheme is certain to pass as Worldview is also the biggest creditor.
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Debenhams, the British retail chain with 11 outlets in Ireland employing 2,200 staff, has become embroiled in a row with the Roche family that once owned Roches Stores, the Irish Times reported. Debenhams bought Roches Stores from the Roche family for €29 million in 2006 and rebranded it, although the family held on to the properties. Details of the row have emerged in documents given to the High Court as part of Debenhams’ Irish division’s application for examinership, a form of court protection while it restructures its finances.
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The High Court has confirmed the appointment of an examiner to the company operating Debenhams eleven stores here, the Irish Times reported. Debenhams Retail (Ireland) Ltd directly employs 1,400 staff while 500 concession staff and 300 cosmetics staff also work in the company’s stores. DRIL sought court protection earlier this month arising from consistent losses sustained since the recession in 2007 and following the withdrawal of support of its UK parent company, Debenhams Retail plc.
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Ulster Bank is lining up the sale of €875 million of troubled mortgages belonging to uncooperative customers who are deep in arrears and litigation, the Irish Times reported. The mortgages, a third of which are against 900 private dwellings, are part of a broader portfolio of loans with a par value of €2.5 billion that the UK government-controlled lender is launching this week. The loans will be sold at a discount, reflecting the fall in asset values since the outset of the financial crisis.
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Irish oil producer Petroceltic International Plc said a court examiner had selected its largest shareholder, Worldview Capital Management, to take control of the group. Petroceltic, which received a 3 pence per share offer from Worldview in February, said it expected to sign an investment agreement over the coming days which would result in Worldview owning the company, Reuters reported. The company was placed in examinership in March, a process under Irish law that is akin to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States and administration in Britain.
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An interim examiner has been appointed by the High Court to the department store chain, Debenhams Retail (Ireland) Ltd, which operates 11 stores in the Republic, the Irish Times reported. The move affects the jobs of 2,265 people, of whom 1,415 are directly employed by the business. Some 500 staff people work in concessions within Debenhams stores, with a further 320 are employed in cosmetics.
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Ireland is no longer seeking further debt relief from its European partners, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said, as he arrived in Brussels on Monday for a key eurogroup meeting on Greece. While Ireland had been targeting debt relief through direct recapitalisation of Bank of Ireland and AIB by the ESM fund, the euro zone’s bailout fund, Mr Noonan said that this mechanism was no longer being sought. “We’ve got what we wanted.
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The number of debt judgments registered against businesses in the Four Courts during the first three months of the year, was up 24 per cent versus the same period in 2015, the Irish Times reported. New figures from the non-profit organisation Registry Trust show there were 295 judgments recorded, of which 158 were against incorporated businesses and 137 for unincorporated firms. The value of first quarter judgments totalled €25 million, up 118 per cent on the first quarter of 2015.
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