US vulture fund Cerberus to auction Salthill pub

A well-known former pub premises in Lower Salthill and two adjoining houses – bought at the height of the property boom for redevelopment – have been put up sale by a controversial US vulture fund.

Cerberus – the private equity fund currently the subject of a Dáil Public Accounts Committee probe into loan books purchased from NAMA – is off-loading the three properties at auction.

The Cottage Bar and the two terraced houses will be sold at an Allsop Private internet-only auction next Tuesday with a combined reserve price of around €945,000.

The same three properties were bought by speculators in 2006 for €3.17 million with funding from Anglo Irish Bank – those loans were later transferred to NAMA (National Asset Management Agency).

At the time, they were owned by John O’Dolan (now deceased) from Gentian Hill, Denis Kenny from Oranmore, and Noreen Walsh from Knocknacarra.

The properties are part of NAMA’s ‘Project Arrow’ portfolio which was purchased in 2015 for €800 million by Cerberus’ Irish subsidiary Promontoria (Arrow) Ltd.

The Cottage Bar (No 76) is being sold with three overhead apartments (2 two-beds and 1 one-bed) with a reserve price range of €460,000 to €470,000.

For more on the auction of these properties, see this week’s Galway City Tribune