NAMA appoints receiver to empty Loughrea shop units

A receiver has been appointed to the development company which owns two empty shop units in Loughrea Shopping Centre, and has debts of more than €5 million.

The National Asset Management Agency appointed Simon Coyle of Mazars as Statutory Receiver to Rathruddy Developments.

The company is owned by Gerry Keane, Mary Thornton and Stephen and Rosemarie O’Rourke.

The most recent company accounts available – for the year ended June 2012 – show the company has a deficit in shareholders’ of more than €3m, and owes credits just over €5m. It had assets of €1.5m and debtors owed €420,000.

AIB is owed just under €3m in a bank loan plus interest, trade creditors are owed €1.1m, and directors are owed around €850,000.

The interest charged on the company’s borrowings and the decline in asset values ultimately led to its downfall – the directors were unable to negotiate a rollover on interest and renewal of bank loans.

NAMA, through AIB, holds the mortgage over the two empty units at Loughrea Shopping Centre. McInerney’s SuperValu and Aldi own their units in the centre, are entirely unaffected by the receivership and not connected in any way.

According to an auditor’s note on the accounts: “During the course of the period under review, the company showed no improvement in the value of its properties. There has been a further decline in the company’s net asset value, as a result of interest charged on company borrowings.

“The company’s future will be affected by the general economic, financial and business conditions, many of which are beyond the company’s control.

“Further deterioration in the economic environment in Ireland could have a material adverse impact on the value of the company and as a consequence cast further uncertainty on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the auditor’s report reads.

Gerry Keane is a builder from Loughrea, while Stephen and Rosemarie O’Rourke own O’Rourke & Sons Construction in Loughrea. Mary Thornton is an accountant from Oranmore.