British Virgin Islands company involved in Ballsbridge project

A British Virgin Islands company forms part of the complex legal structure put in place for the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin.

The hotel was due to open in February, but when it will open is now unclear. The company developing the property, Simmonscourt Holdings, has run out of funds.

The directors of Simmonscourt Holdings are Mr Sean Dillon, a Dublin estate agent, and two US businessmen, Mr Robert Radovan and Mr William Criswell.

The company's annual return for the year to December 31st, 1999, filed in the Companies Office earlier this month, shows total indebtedness as £100,426 (€127,515).

The company was incorporated in December 1996. Mr Criswell and Mr Radovan work for Criswell Radovan LLC, of Los Angeles, which was paid £549,242 in fees in the year to December 31st, 1998, the latest year for which accounts are available. The balance sheet for the year shows the company had creditors who were owed £987,323 at the end of 1998.

The company has significantly exceeded its target budget of £51 million. A charge created by the company shows a credit facility of £3 million with ACCBank and a further £50 million credit facility to Harvard Properties Ltd, another company linked to the development.

The charge includes the hotel building, situated on land which is the subject of a lease between the RDS and The Nollaig Partnership. The Nollaig Partnership is scheduled to take over ownership of the hotel when it is complete. The hotel will be managed by the Four Seasons group.

As part of the deal, the partnership was to buy the completed hotel for £59 million. How much has already been invested by the partners is not known. The RDS was to earn £390,000 per annum in rent.

The partnership was put together by Mr Derek Quinlan, a successful accountant and tax adviser, and Mr Niall McCormack, a former property adviser to Bank of Ireland.

The role of Harvard Properties in the overall scheme is not clear, though money advanced for the project seems to have gone via Harvard, and Harvard has a charge over Simmonscourt Holdings.

The Harvard Properties annual return to December 31st, 1999 shows the company as having an indebtedness of £13.6 million. The directors are the former chairman of ACCBank, Mr Dan McGing, and financial adviser Mr Barry Kenny.

A charge created by Harvard and registered in the Companies Office secures "any amount in excess of £9 million which may be received by Harvard Properties Ltd" pursuant to a December 1997 agreement between Harvard and Stoneyview Ltd.

Mr Quinlan was a director of Stoneyview, which is now dissolved. The entity entitled to the charge created by Harvard is Marlast Ltd. Files in the Companies Office show the shares in Marlast are owned by Rhea Investments Ltd, a company in the British Virgin Islands.