THE National Asset Management Agency (Nama) is poised to appoint receivers to the property empire of Seán Dunne, the flamboyant developer.
Dunne, 56, owes nearly €350m to Nama after his loans from Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks and Irish Nationwide were transferred to the state property agency last year.
The move follows months of protracted correspondence between the state property agency and Dunne, who has moved to America.
The assets Nama plans to take over do not include Dunne’s best-known purchase, a seven-acre site in Ballsbridge that he bought for €375m with borrowings from non-Nama banks: Ulster Bank, Kaupthing and Co-operative Centrale Raiffeisen Boerleen Bank.
Grant Thornton, an accounting firm, is tipped to be appointed as the receiver to Dunne’s assets following a tender process that is close to completion.
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Dunne is trying to restart his career as a developer in America and has, according to New York property sources, viewed several potential deals in Manhattan.
Nama requested that Dunne submit both a business plan and a detailed report on his assets both in Ireland and overseas after it took over his loans. Nama has not been convinced by Dunne’s proposals to date.
Receivers will move to realise value from Dunne’s Irish assets. They will pursue the developer for any deficit as Dunne was among the most prolific investors at the top of the boom. The shortfall could be substantial.
Nama has assumed control of Hume House, which the Carlow-born developer bought for €130m in 2006. Other Dunne assets to come under Nama’s control include two office blocks in Dublin’s docklands, a site in Kildare and a development project near Dublin City University.
Nama acquired Dunne’s loans for about €200m, or a discount of 42%.
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The state property agency has also been in correspondence with Gayle Killilea, 36, who with Dunne invited more than 100 guests to their lavish wedding cruise aboard the Christina O in 2004. Attendees included the former Irish Nationwide boss Michael Fingleton. The former gossip columnist has told Nama she personally has no debts with any institutions covered by the bank guarantee nor was she the subject of any Nama loan.
She is the beneficial owner of the trust that controls Walford, Ireland’s most expensive house, which was bought for €58m on Shrewsbury Road in 2005. Nama, however, has requested further information on any asset transfers between the couple in the past few years.
Lawyers for Killilea did not respond on Friday nor did she respond to emails. Detailed questions submitted to Dunne were not answered either.
Dunne and Killilea were reported to have left their $8m (€5.8m) rented Connecticut mansion after their neighbours criticised their plans to rebuild a house nearby.