Ireland

Property developer Joe O’Reilly expects his personal and group loans, which total more than €2 billion, will be sold by Nama for a multiple of what the agency paid for them, the Irish Times reported. Mr O’Reilly told the banking inquiry he had personal and corporate loans totalling about €2 billion from the guaranteed banks in September 2008 and he believed all this money would be repaid. He said he expected the principal of his personal and corporate loans to be fully repaid when the loans are sold as part of Nama’s so-called Project Jewel sale, currently under way.

An interim examiner has been appointed by the High Court to Mothercare Ireland, which employs 276 people in 18 shops across the State, the Irish Times reported. The aim of seeking court protection and examinership is to achieve a restructuring of the company, save as many jobs as possible and minimise shop closures, the company said. It cannot afford to support unprofitable stores, it added. The firm said it will trade as normal during the examinership process, staff and suppliers will be paid as normal and all gift cards and family card points will be honoured.

The main Irish banks have been upgraded by Standard & Poors, with Bank of Ireland being raised to investment grade, the Irish Times reported. The ratings agency has said preprovision profitability for Irish banks has improved on the back of expanding net interest margins and that it expects the sector’s shift to lower risk and a stable competitive landscape to be enduring.

The wife of bankrupt developer Sean Dunne wants orders permitting her lawyers to cross-examine a US lawyer about his sworn statements in support of Irish proceedings challenging the validity of transfers of valuable assets by Mr Dunne to his wife the Irish Times reported. The Commercial Court will later this month hear Gayle Dunne’s application for orders permitting the cross-examination of Timothy Miltenberger, who has sworn affidavits on behalf of Richard Coan, the US trustee administering Sean Dunne’s US bankruptcy.

The company that previously held the Irish franchise for the Iceland chain of grocery stores will apply to the High Court next Monday for an examiner to be appointed to give it protection from its creditors, the Irish Times reported. ACCHL, previously known as Aim Cash & Carry, recorded a collapse in its revenues after Iceland took back the franchise and bought Aim’s seven stores in late 2013. Iceland subsequently announced a plan to open 50 stores here under its own management.

Banks have secured greater protection for loans to companies in a landmark Supreme Court ruling, the Irish Times reported. The court’s unanimous judgment means Bank of Ireland gets priority over preferential creditors, including the Revenue, which is owed €600,000, in the liquidation of companies in the Belgard Motors Group. As the bank is owed €16.2 million, no other creditor will get paid.

Minister for Business and Employment Ged Nash has said he believes there is sufficient legal protection in place to deal with issues arising from cases such as the liquidation of the department store Clerys, the Irish Times reported. Mr Nash said workers and creditors at Clerys would not get paid over and above statutory payments by the liquidators but added that current law does provide for a situation where assets are kept in one arm of a company, while losses accumulate in another part, which is then liquidated.

Ireland should go back to the negotiating table for a “significant” debt writedown after the crisis in Greece is resolved, a former International Monetary Fund chief economist has said. Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard professor, says although the Irish economy was recovering, the country would be “far better off” today if the Government had not taken over so much banking debt, the Irish Times reported. The influential economist says Ireland should be among a number of countries “that should receive a significant debt writedown”.

The trial of three former Anglo Irish Bank officials has been adjourned until Thursday so the defence can examine freshly uncovered documents, the Irish Times reported. The trial was due to resume on Wednesday morning. However Judge Patrick McCartan told the jury of six men and six women documents sought by the defence had only just been discovered by the prosecution and that the defence needed the rest of the day to examine them.

Bookmaker Ladbrokes Ireland’s parent’s rescue plan for the troubled business has trumped alternatives proposed by rival Boylesports and others, the Irish Times reported. Kenneth Fennell, the examiner appointed by the High Court to oversee the rescue of Ladbrokes Ireland told creditors and other interested parties on Tuesday that he favours the plan put forward by the chain’s UK parent. That proposal involves closing 60 out of 196 of its betting shops in the Republic, cutting 250 of its 840 jobs and repudiating a number of its leases.