Anglo Irish Bank Share Discussion Threads

[lbo] 18/6/2009 10:55

THERE WAS a distinctly muted response to the recently granted planning permissions by An Bord Pleanála for landmark schemes at the Burlington Hotel and former vet college sites in Dublin 4.

Bernard McNamara's development company for the Burlington Hotel – which got the green light for a €1 billion mixed-use scheme – said they were "glad" at the permission but any decision on the future use of the site was "many years away" while they looked forward to "the continuing growth and success of the Burlington as the leading four-star hotel in the south Dublin area".

What, only glad? A few years ago you had to dodge the champagne corks when a €1 billion scheme got the nod while the hotel gates would have been shut quick smart.

Similarly, while developer Ray Grehan expressed delight at the go-ahead for his scheme on the former vet college site, for which he paid €171.5 million in 2005, it was still "two to three years" from when economic conditions may permit work to start on the 32,870sq m (353,809sq ft) mixed-use scheme. However, the planning permission had consolidated "the value of the site".

Only consolidated? A few years ago it would have added millions. Oh, the old days.

[lbo] 18/6/2009 10:15

While declining to talk directly about the situation in Ireland, his comments have a deep resonance for taxpayers here who have bailed out Anglo Irish Bank and are being asked to continue funding the bank's operations.

"There are banks that were deeply rotten and those banks should be forced to recognise the losses that occurred rather than covering up the losses.

"The management should be replaced and there should be clean, thorough accounting so the taxpayers know what the extent of their liabilities are."

Galbraith, who likes Bill Black's 2005 classic 'The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One', insists that a bank's management must be culled before any bank can be reformed.

"The incumbent management will never give you a choice you have confidence in, because the incumbent management will never come clean," he says.

While cautioning that not all banks are rotten, Glabraith says no bank should be allowed to be "too big to fail" while also being allowed to take risks.

[lbo] 17/6/2009 09:49

The Faustian pact of a personal guarantee

[lbo] 15/6/2009 21:49

Losses still mounting at Dylan Hotel



Elysian: the final resting place of the boom
Ireland's tallest apartment block was to be the height of luxury. Now it's all but deserted

[lbo] 09/6/2009 22:55

'Seanie' still sits on €1.1m a year
State cannot touch disgraced banker's money



The chairman of Anglo Irish Bank has disclosed that some senior staff at the bank have impaired loans to the bank



The executive chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Corp., Donal O'Connor, said Tuesday the bank's potential loan losses total EUR7.5 billion and he expects further impairments of EUR1.5 billion-EUR3.5 billion after the government sets up its "bad bank."

[lbo] 31/5/2009 22:05

ANGLO Irish Bank, which last week reported losses of €4.1bn, lent Swiss firm Valartis €24m to buy Anglo's own Austrian banking operations.

[lbo] 29/5/2009 12:04

The largest loss in Irelands corporate history. €31m loans to directors written off! €106.8m loans (up from to €83.8m 6 months ago) to Sean Fitzpatrick written off! €308m loans to the the "Golden circle" to buy Anglo shares written!



The Government is to seek EU approval to inject up to €4 billion of capital into the nationalised Anglo Irish Bank, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said today.

The move follows the announcement of a €4.1 billion pretax loss by the lender for the six month period to March 31st.

[lbo] 28/5/2009 14:36

Quinn Glass appeal High Court order


Quinn Glass has lodged an appeal against the enforcement proceedings brought by Chester West and Cheshire Council to have its factory near Chester levelled.

Quinn Glass have been operating the facility without planning permission and in April this year, the council was directed by the UK High Court to serve an enforcement notice in respect of the factory.

[lbo] 26/5/2009 14:38

FBD - Quinn sees "10% price increases"



• According to reports over the weekend, Quinn Direct believes that overall increases in charges for motor and general insurance should be 10% in the current year. Issuing a note tobrokers, Quinn confirmed that it had made a "€72 million in operating profits from just over €1 billion in premium income". However, according to reports, investment losses of €130 million, left the group with a pretax loss of €58 million last year, compared with a €245 million gain in 2007.
• While prices have been increasing across the industry, there appears to be still a requirement for further price increases to come through in Ireland to compensate for higher claims levels and lower capital returns.


Nervous times as brokers take stock of a fast changing world



Goodbody is part of ailing Allied Irish Banks, Davy belongs to its senior management, some of whom borrowed heavily from Anglo Irish to buy a stake in the company when it was sold at the top of the boom

Goodbody made a bid to draw even with Davy back in 2003 when it attempted to snap up NCB Stockbrokers which was being sold by Ulster Bank. In the end, NCB's senior management engineered an MBO with the help of financier Dermot Desmond.

MBO

That MBO may have saved NCB's senior managers from losing their jobs but it has not all been plain sailing for the rank and file. IFSC-based NCB said last month it may make as many as 20 people redundant out of its 160-strong workforce.

The company, which is now 25pc owned by billionaire Sean Quinn, fired a further 15 people last year to save money.

Merrion Capital, unlike most of its rivals, is up front about recent losses. The firm has 94 employees after cutting six employees in the past year and saw pretax profit more than halve to €11m.

The brokerage, which was formed by a group of disgruntled NCB employees, has had a interesting time of late. Management bought Merrion back from Icelandic basketcase Landsbanki for about €30m in January.

The deal, which was backed by Bank of Ireland, saw chief executive John Conroy buy back Merrion for about a third of what Landsbanki paid last year to take a large controlling stake.

Across the river, on St Stephen's Green, 14-year-old Dolmen Stockbrokers completed another MBO in April 2007 and narrowly escaped being bought by Irish Life & Permanent last summer.

Like NCB, the firm is owned by staff and a millionaire who made his money out of the boom, in this case property developer Garrett Kelleher.

[lbo] 25/5/2009 21:22

The ISEQ fell by 4.61 points to 2,693.37.

Nationalised Anglo Irish Bank is due to report interim results to the end of March 2009 as early as today or as late as Thursday. Media reports suggest that impairment losses in the half may be as high as E4bn, substantial in the context of the bank's E73bn loan book at end-September 2008. A report in the papers this morning quotes Finance Minister Brian Lenihan as saying that the institution's losses were 'somewhat beyond expectations.' As in the case of the other Irish lenders, the most vulnerable segment of the loan book is the property development piece, although impairments on the business banking book can also be expected to increase

[lbo] 25/5/2009 10:24

Fraud will rise in recession, 60pc of Irish bosses believe





Moody's withdraws credit rating for Houghton Mifflin



O'Callaghan is poised for deal on debt/equity swap
EMPG to restructure €5.1bn debt pile and cut its €550m annual interest bill





O'Callaghan, who has personally borrowed $200m from Anglo Irish Bank



Quinn backed the €25bn record buyout of HCA

[lbo] 23/5/2009 13:42

Office rent drops 16pc as demand tumbles



Court orders developers to pay bank €6.9m



Developers gave bank €130m letter of guarantee

[lbo] 23/5/2009 13:41

Anglo set for half-year loss as the cost of bad loans soars

[lbo] 22/5/2009 16:03

Anglo Irish Bank (note that its results are out next week, the rumour is that they will be awful),

[lbo] 22/5/2009 15:57

PROPERTY

Danninger Ltd
A petition to shut down Danninger Ltd., the main operating company behind Ireland's biggest developer, Liam Carroll, has been filed with the High Court. The petition was filed by Deepdrill Developments, a property vehicle of high-profile publicans Liam and Des O'Dwyer. Adrian Shanahan, the financial director of Deepdrill, presented its case to the High Court in the last few days and it is expected to come up again on Monday week.

The move comes as Danninger continues negotiations with its trade creditors to rescue the company. Carroll is offering creditors between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of their debts. Headlined "Petition Lodged To Shut Down Carroll-Owned Danninger", an article in the Sunday Business Post claimed that Deepdrill was attempting to recover money it claims it is owed.

Deepdrill was established by the O'Dwyer brothers to develop a one-acre site in Abbey Street in Dublin. It won the contract from the site's former owner, Dublin Bus, in a deal worth €30 million. In 2007, Danninger challenged the awarding of the contract, which included building a bus interchange, arguing that Dublin Bus did not follow proper procedure. It lost the case in the High Court.

Lalco Ltd.
The High Court is to be asked to appoint a liquidator to a development company owned by Galway businessman John Lally. The case is being brought by a recruitment company that claims it is owed a significant amount by the development company, Lalco Ltd. "Hays Recruitment Requests Liquidation Of Lalco" was the Sunday Business Post heading on the story, which said the case would be heard by the court later this month. If not settled before then, Hays Recruitment will seek the appointment of a liquidator.

Through Lalco, Lally controls a number of major developments and several hotels, including the Strand in Limerick and the Hilton in Kilmainham in Dublin. In 2006, Lalco paid €110 million for a large site in Sandyford, Co Dublin. Lally operates through a range of companies and corporate entitles – Hays has taken the petition to wind up one group company, Lalco Ltd.

Pierse Construction
One of Ireland's biggest contracting firms, Pierse Construction, has closed its British subsidiary and a receiver has been appointed to handle its assets. The company's HR manager, Matthew O'Dowd, has confirmed that a creditors meeting will take place on June 1st. The UK company made a loss before tax of €5 million last year on turnover of around €32.5 million.

"Receiver Appointed To The British Subsidiary Of Pierse Construction", the Sunday Business Post reported. Pierse had been engaged in civil engineering and general building projects in Britain and had offices in Cheshire and Surrey, with a workforce of 60 people. Now the closure of both offices is complete, staff will be considered preferred creditors at the meeting in June, O'Dowd said. Headed by former Construction Industry Federation president Nobby O'Reilly, Pierse is one of the biggest contractors in Ireland, with an annual turnover in excess of €500 million and 900 people on its payroll.

[lbo] 22/5/2009 15:45

Kelly Ballsbridge property on market quoting €9.5m
By CON POWER


A Ballsbridge office block owned by embattled developer Paddy Kelly is one of two unrelated Dublin properties with development potential which have been brought to the market this week.

Its a third of an acre site in Ballsbridge and ACC says it's current market value is around 8.5m, suggesting a market value of about 25 million an acre for ballsbridge.

SD paid 54m an acre for Jurys
Bernard McNamara paid 66m an acre for the Burlington
Ray Grehan paid 84m an acre for UCD Vetinary College

[lbo] 18/5/2009 21:22

ACCBank seeks orders against Kelly

[lbo] 16/5/2009 13:50

Rents crashing in London to 1991 prices



Irish homebuilder Menolly has been caught up in the collapse of the rental market in the City of London, which could see almost 20pc of offices empty by next year.

[lbo] 15/5/2009 17:48

New book to lift lid on FitzPatrick pension pot of €25m

[lbo] 12/5/2009 21:23

Moody's withdraws credit rating for Houghton Mifflin





Auditors to Irish Nationwide warned key directors of the significant 'reputational risk' to the building society in February 2008 due to controversial loans to former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick.

The disclosure was made at a heated AGM of the building society today. The auditors KPMG also said the Financial Regulator was aware of the loans.

[lbo] 10/5/2009 21:22

Embattled Kelly in talks with Anglo to save property portfolio

[lbo] 10/5/2009 21:08

Quinlan drops €500m US fund - Sunday Times

Pulled a US fundraising citing market conditions. Started marketing fund at end of last year. Designed as a follow up to Quinlan Private European Strategic property fund whihc raised €385m in America in May 2008. Quinlan was to receive a 1.75% managment fee on fund. Quinlan has a total of €11bn under managment.



He was once among the country's most enthusiastic buyers of property. Now Derek Quinlan is one of its most vigorous sellers. The former tax inspector with the Revenue Commissioners, who is attempting to sell multiple properties in Dublin and New York, is quietly seeking to offload a plot of land in Malibu where he planned to build an eco-friendly house next door to The Edge, guitarist with rock group U2.



DEVELOPER DEREK Quinlan has lost his High Court challenge to a planning condition stipulating a protected property on Dublin's Ailesbury Road bought by him for €8.5 million may only be used as an embassy.