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NIB takes control of shopping centre
13 September 2009 By Ian Kehoe and David Clerkin
National Irish Bank has taken control of a shopping centre on the outskirts of Waterford city, one of the first times that the Danish-owned bank has moved to take control of assets.
The bank has appointed a receiver over the Ross Abbey Town Centre, a new development that was to include shops, restaurants, a medical centre, gym and other leisure amenities.
The bank has installed Tom Kavanagh, a partner with Dublin insolvency specialists Kavanagh Fennell, as receiver over Jaytar, the company behind the shopping centre.
Jaytar has liabilities of around €26 million, according to its most recent accounts. The company is controlled by Noel Burke Developments, a Galway development firm that has built hotels, shopping centres and a number of housing projects.
The company owns the Fitzwilton Hotel in Waterford and is also behind plans for a new hotel on the Connacht Laundry site in Galway. The Ross Abbey Town Centre was completed last year, but has not yet opened.
The shopping centre was to form part of a major residential development incorporating about 1,000 homes and apartments. The shopping centre is located in the Ferrybank area of Waterford, close to a number of large residential projects.
Eurospar, the convenience franchise, had signed up as the anchor tenant, and the overall development includes 20 retail spaces.
National Irish Bank, which is owned by Danske Bank, took possession of the site after growing concerns about millions of euro it had advanced to Jaytar.
The company moved on foot of a charge that was registered in 2006 against the company’s assets.
The bank is assessing its options in an effort to recover as much of its money as possible. Kavanagh, the receiver, could not be contacted for comment last week.
National Irish Bank has a total exposure to commercial property loans of €3.3 billion - out of a total loan book of €10.6 billion.
It provided for loan impairment charges of €379 million in the six months to June, blaming its property development exposure for the bulk of the expected losses. It reported pretax losses of €341 million for the half year.
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