Glass Bottle Site developer to rebuild empire in Middle East

[Arbitrager]

Glass Bottle developer to rebuild empire in Middle East
Tuesday June 01 2010

DEVELOPER Bernard McNamara, who is financially ‘broke’ and facing debts of €1bn, is beginning the task of rebuilding his empire in the Middle East.
Mr McNamara (60) is acting as a private consultant to a company that has formed a joint venture to pursue property projects in Qatar in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Irish Independent has learned that Mr McNamara has made frequent trips in recent times to the Gulf state, but the nature or scale of the developments the consortium is pursuing are not known.
Details of payments the Clare-born builder is due to receive for his consultancy work in the UAE have been sought by a group of private investors amassed by Davy Stockbrokers who backed the ill-fated acquisition of the former Irish Glass Bottle Site.
The ongoing row with the Davy investors is a matter of huge sensitivity to both parties and details of the Qatar venture, revealed in the course of the Davy proceedings, could not be confirmed by a spokesman for Mr McNamara last night.
Mr McNamara’s pursuit of new business interests in the Middle East comes as difficulties mount for the developer at home. Last month the four-star Killeshin Hotel in Portlaoise was placed into receivership by Anglo Irish Bank, which bankrolled the Glass Bottle deal.
Anglo is believed to be owed some €20m by the hotel in which Mr McNamara has a 50pc interest.
The former Glass Bottle site, bought three years ago in a deal worth €426m by Becbay, a consortium led by Mr McNamara and including the Davy private clients, is now valued at less than €60m…independent.ie/national-news/glass-bottle-developer-to-rebuild-empire-in-middle-east-2202017.html

[Dubhgeannain]

C’mon the Irish

If he’s so “broke” he shouldn’t be in a position to even afford the flights out there.

[Open_Window]

An 85% drop for the Glass bottle site. Morgan Kelly sounds practically optimistic in these circumstances.