AIB registered loan charges against Carroll's Danninger

ALLIED IRISH Banks (AIB), the main lender to Liam Carroll, registered a series of loan charges against Danninger, his development firm, on the same day last month that companies in his Zoe group sought court protection.

Twelve loan charges were submitted to the Companies Registration Office (CRO) on July 17th when six companies within Mr Carroll’s beleaguered group applied for protection in the High Court.

Six of the charges, which are publicly available, show that AIB registered securities against properties and development land held by Danninger at Upper Abbey Street, Cork Street, Smithfield and Kilmainham in Dublin.

The charges, which were created 10 days earlier, back mortgage loans provided by the bank to Danninger and were presented to the CRO by Dublin law firm Beauchamps, solicitors for the bank.

While Mr Carroll did not seek court protection for Danninger, it is one of the developer’s companies which is exposed through cross-guarantees and inter-company debts within the Zoe group.

AIB lists Danninger and Morston Investments, one of the six companies that failed to secure court protection, in an earlier loan charge submitted to the CRO on July 10th.

According to that loan charge, Danninger and Morston, together with Vantive Holdings, another company among the six seeking court protection, borrowed money from AIB under an agreement dated March 31st, 2009.

The High Court will decide today whether the six companies and a seventh firm, Royceton, can file a new petition seeking protection and the appointment of an examiner to put in place the group’s long-term survival plan.

The companies were given a last-minute reprieve on Friday night to seek to present another application for court protection after an earlier application was rejected by the court last month and upheld by the Supreme Court last week.

Last Friday the court agreed to allow the companies the opportunity to argue for another petition for court protection today even though the deadline for such a move seeking to set aside a receiver appointed to four Zoe group companies by Dutch-owned ACCBank passed earlier that day.