Developer Noel Smyth quits as director at 13 companies

[BoyRacer]

Developer Noel Smyth quits as director at 13 companies - Nick Webb → independent.ie/business/iris … 46919.html

Property developer Noel Smyth, who handed over his art collection to Nama last month, has stepped down as a director from a number of his firms over the last month.

New filings show that Mr Smyth – who was Ben Dunne’s solicitor during the period which ultimately saw the downfall of CJ Haughey – terminated his directorship with at least 13 companies that had been used for his property development empire.

These include Therese Properties, Arkbay and Richelle.

Mr Smyth is locked in a legal battle with lenders to keep control of more than €210m worth of UK properties and assets. His major Irish asset is the Square shopping centre in Tallaght, Dublin.

[grumpy]

Lenders vie for control of asset sell-off in Smyth property empire

By Donal O’Donovan

Monday July 09 2012

THE battle for developer Noel Smyth’s €167m Alburn Real Estate Capital UK property empire continues to rage, with lenders now fighting each other for control of a process to sell off the assets.

In May, Mr Smyth lost control of the UK portfolio, which includes 29 office blocks, among them Project House on London’s Tottenham Court Road.

Receivers were appointed after Mr Smyth’s Jersey-registered investment company failed to repay or restructure £200m (€252m) of debt.

The debt secured on the property empire was a complex, multi-layered facility. In the current liquidation scenario only the most senior lenders in the structure are regarded as “in the money”, meaning they will see some recovery on their loans despite falling property values.

They voted to appoint receivers to sell off the assets after a long-running effort by Mr Smyth to cut a consensual deal failed to bear fruit.

independent.ie/business/iris … 61845.html