Ireland

Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm has asked a US court for more time to outline his reasons why it should overturn a bankruptcy judge’s ruling blocking a write-off of his debts, the Irish Times reported. Mr Drumm lodged papers in the US District Court in Massachusetts saying that a February 9th deadline was too soon to file an opening brief outlining why he is seeking to overturn the ruling by bankruptcy judge Frank Bailey denying him a discharge.

The main representative body for Irish banks has welcomed the Central Bank’s decision to ease its proposals on loan-to-value (LTV) mortgage limits for first-time buyers but cautioned it could have an impact on house building, the Irish Times reported. “While a 90 per cent loan to value for first-time buyers on the first €220,000 value of a property is welcome, the extent to which this will effectively accommodate first-time buyers, particularly in urban areas, is uncertain,” Banking & Payments Federation Ireland said.

Fears that thousands of homeowners are facing repossession ahead of an election has prompted Taoiseach Enda Kenny to call in the head of the State Insolvency Service for a meeting on Wednesday. There is concern in Government that few debt deals between banks and homeowners are being done, leaving those in arrears vulnerable to having their homes taken from them, Independent.ie reported. Some 30,000 homeowners have received letters from their banks threatening repossession. These arrears cases could end up swamping the courts just as an election is called, in 2016.

Ireland has the fourth highest government debt to GDP ratio in the European Union, despite recording the largest drop in debt from the third quarter of 2013 to the end of the same quarter last year, the Irish Times reported. New figures published by the EU statistics office Eurostat show Irish debt now stands at 114.8 per cent, having fallen by 9.4 per cent from 124.2 per cent over the period under review. With a government debt to GDP ratio of 176 per cent, Greece has the highest debt among Member States.

The National Asset Management Agency made a loss of €292.9 million on the disposal of various debtor loans in the first nine months of last year, according to its latest set of unaudited accounts, the Irish Times reported. It is understood that this relates to the sale of a large portfolio of assets in Northern Ireland last year, which resulted in a loss being booked. However, the State agency made a profit of €150 million on the sale of property assets to leave it with a net loss on disposals in the nine months to the end of September 2014 of €143 million.

Demand for mortgage loans increased in the final quarter of last year ahead of expected new stricter lending rules, the Irish Times reported. According to the Central Bank bank’s latest quarterly lending survey, the potential introduction of stricter loan-to-value criteria resulted in “an acceleration of demand”. However, the survey, which examines credit market conditions for households and businesses, the strength of the reported increase in demand was lower than the record level reported in the third quarter.

Irish development and investment group Ardale Property has completed its acquisition of Weslin Construction, which was in examinership. The €500,000 deal will save 15 jobs and position Ardale across a number of sectors, the Irish Times reported. Alan Hegarty, of Ardale Property Group, said that the investment “was an easy one”. “We would not have made this investment unless we felt we could bring Weslin forward.

Kenmare Resources, the Irish mineral sands miner hit by the fall in commodity prices, is seeking to finalise a deal with lenders to restructure its debt load by the end of the month. Dublin-based Kenmare has struggled with the size of its debt and a succession of operating problems, including power-supply interruptions. The company, founded in 1986, “has disappointed on many levels over a long time”, said one shareholder, the Irish Times reported.

A Galway-based company is being sued by a Luxembourg investor over the alleged effective cancellation of a €2 million loan note when it was converted into shares before the firm was sold off, the Irish Times reported. In Commercial Court proceedings, it is claimed Éire Composites, which designs and manufactures lightweight high-performance materials for the aerospace, marine and motor sectors, was bought by businessman Thomas Flanagan last November despite objections by Carlo Tassara Assets Management Ltd (CTAM), with registered offices in Luxembourg.

The liquidator of insolvent Setanta Insurance expects there could be a “significant shortfall” between available funds and the total value of claims, The Irish Times reported. Paul Mercieca of Deloitte, who was appointed as liquidator to the Dublin-based insurance company in April 2014, said that as a result of the expected shortfall he intends to make advance applications to the Insurance Compensation Fund on behalf of claimants. The State-backed fund, which was established in 1964, is one into which all Irish insurers pay into to cover claims in the event of a company going bust.