12.12.2011

Philip Lynch has lost his High Court case where he was contesting liability for a €25 million property loan taken out in February 2007. The family bought the lands in a deal suggested by property developer Gerry Conlon, who was a 50% partner in the loan and the property deal.

A shareholder disagreement at Blackrock Clinic values the business at between €90m and €175m. Primary shareholders are Larry Goodman, Joe Sheehan (surgeon), Jimmy Sheehan (surgeon) and property developer, John Flynn.

An American private equity firm, GenNx360, has taken majority control of Syncreon, the logistics company founded by Michael Enright and Brian Enright. Brian Enright was paid a $1.5m from the company last year, alone.

Merlin Motor City, once the country's biggest used-car dealership has gone into liquidation. Chief executive, David Byrne announced that the move came after sales plummeted from 3,500 used cars in 2008 to just 450 this year.

Big news on the fundraising front is the announcement of a €3m donation by Elan Corporation to UCD for the establishment of a business of biotechnology centre in the college's science centre.

Sourced from: Sunday Times

28.11.2011

Jet-bird, the low-cost European executive jet airline, planned by aviation entrepreneur Dómhnal Slattery has gone into liquidation. The project was wound down in 2009. However, Slattery has returned to the aviation business with Avalon, an aircraft leasing firm that has raised $1.4 billion in equity, and $2.6 billion in debt, with the view to a possible Asian flotation in 2015.  Avolon has raised more money than any other Irish start-up in history.  Its portfolio now included 89 jets which are leased to 26 airlines including Ryanair American Airlines, Air Asia & China Eastern.  The Clareman made a fortune in 2001 selling aviation leasing business IAMG TO RBS for €25M.   He also fronted Claret Capital the investment group.

Ronan McNamee, the founder of Cuisine de France, has signed a deal to sell a new range of wheat-free and gluten-free bakery goods to Dunnes Stores nationwide. McNanee and his business partner Pat Loughery sold Cuisine de France for €64.7m in 1997 to IAWS (now called Aryzta).

Michael Dawson, the founder and CEO of the Gift Voucher Shop, has seen turnover in his company rise to €150m. Sales are split between the UK and Ireland; sales are up 18% in Ireland and have risen 40% in the UK.

Charles Gallagher the Abbey boss saw the value of his family stake in the house builders Gallagher Holdings increased this week by €203,000 after market trading.  The family’s 10,166,000 shares are now worth €52.7M.

Origin Enterprises Tom O’Mahony was €29,000 down as the food and agribusiness firm hit its targets. O’Mahony’s 837,267 shares are now worth €2.55m.

Property tycoon Noel Smyth has stepped down as director from a number of his firms over the past month, including Therese Properties, Arkbay and Richelle.  He also handed over his art collection to NAMA last month. Smyth is locked in legal battles with lenders to keep control of more than €210m worth of UK properties and assets. The Square shopping centre in Tallagh is his major Irish asset.

William Egan CHR non-executive director and his wife bought 26,000 shares in the United States spending on average $17 a share for stock in the construction industry giant. Total cost in the region of €300,000.

Finally, in October Irish property prices fell at the fastest rate, 2.2%, since April 2009 bringing the fall to 15.1% for the year.  Falling property prices mean that the banks will face bigger losses and that the consumers will be less inclined to spend money.

Sunday Times, 27.11.2011 and Sunday Independant, 27.11.2011

05.12.2011

Former F1 Boss, Eddie Jordan, was one of the backers of Destiny Wireless, the digital pen firm recently bought out by Swedish firm Anoto. Jordan also backed Norkom Technology, which was taken over by BAe in a €217m deal earlier this year.

DCC's Tommy Breen saw the value of his shares increase by €438,000 last week. His shares are worth ca. €5.36m. United Drugs chairman & former head of Ulster Bank, Ronnie Kells, recently spent €38,000 purchasing 20,000 shares. Kingspan's Geoff Doherty was recently awarded 150,000 shares at a value of €6 each. Icon's Peter Gray gained €589,000 when he sold nearly 50,000 shares in the company last week. Gerard O’Hanlon stake in Kerry Group is almost €1.3m having spent approximately €36,085 purchasing shares at €25.89.

Dermot Desmond is close to breaching the 4% ownership threshold in Independent News & Media (INM) it has been claimed this week, purchasing more than €1m in a single swoop. A Desmond 3% holding was declared to the stock market in August.  Denis O’Brien owns a 22% stake in INM.

Belfast’s Limelight and the Spring & Airbrake Complex have been purchased in a joint venture between Denis Desmond’s entertainment giant MCD and Shine promotions.

Brian Lucey, the Trinity professor and economist has started a new venture Ussher Executives Education, to provide business people access to academic expertise.  Lecturers include Timothy Weithers, former managing director of investment bank UBS, Karl Whelan, UCD professor of economics and Constantin Gurdgiev, a adjunct lecture in finance at Trinity.  TCD is a shareholder of Ussher Executives.

JCI Japan Communications Inc, founder by Frank Sanda, the world’s first visual network operator for mobile phones, plans to set up an operation in Ireland.  It plans to launch a mobile data service for businesses only and wants to use Ireland as a staging post to launch pan-European mobile service.  Sanda is married to an Irish woman and has longstanding links with the country.

Ronan McNamee, mentioned last week, is planning to open an eatery on Dublin’s Fade Street with TV chef Dylan McGrath. The idea is to operate at mass-market level. John Magnier and JP McManus are both listed in the Switzerland Bilanz magazine richest residence; both are listed to be worth 1-1.5 billion Swiss francs (€800m-€1.2billion).

Finally, last week the Public Accounts Committee was informed that the Revenue had issued Personal Fund Threshold certificates to 110 individuals whose pension funds were worth over €5m in 2005.

Sunday Times, 04.12.2011 and Sunday Independant, 04.12.2011

23.11.2011

Property developer Paddy McKillen's legal action against the British billionaires Freddie and David Barclay will begin in March, 2012. McKillen is suing the Daily Telegraph owners to gain control of the Maybourne Hotel Group that owns Claridges, the Connaught, and the Berkeley hotels in London. He is the biggest shareholder in Coroin, the company formed when McKillen, financier Derek Quinlan and other investors purchased the hotels for €1.1bn in 2004. The reclusive developer owns 36.5% of that company. The Barclay brothers purchased the hotels' €800m worth of loans from NAMA earlier this year.

Dunnes Stores made a profit of almost €25m from its stores in the North, Britain and Spain despite a drop in revenue. Dunnes has also been increasing its market share in Ireland, seeing its market share increase from 23.9% to 23.1% in the last 12 months. The directors of the firm are Margaret Heffernan and Frank Dunne.

Carlisle Trust, the main company in the property group owned by businessman John Byrne, paid a €6.3 million divedend last year despite sizeable losses. A veteran developer and investor, 91-year-old Byrne owns a large amount of property in Dublin city centre, and his companies are among the biggest landlords to public sector companies. A former friend of Charlie Haughey, he was a witness at the Moriarty Tribunal.

A Dublin bookseller left almost €1m in his will when he died earlier this year. Fred Hanna was the former owner of Fred Hanna’s bookshop on Nassau Street, which was set-up by his grandfather. The business was taken over by Easons in 1999. Hanna lived on Johnston Road, Dun Laoghaire.

Finally, only 13 people with connections to the Irish Republic have made it into the latest UK Property Rich List; down from 30 in the 2009 list. See: http://bit.ly/ujJ2qP