Nama paid €3.5m from receiver's sale of land to UCC

STATE AGENCY Nama has been paid €3.5 million by the receiver of part of builder and developer John Fleming’s property empire following a land sale earlier this year.

Mr Fleming’s businesses were placed in receivership and liquidation in early 2010 owing more than €1 billion to the banks after the Supreme Court refused to approve a rescue plan for his Tivway group proposed by George Maloney of Baker Tilly Ryan.

Documents recently filed with the Companies Registration Office show Nama recovered €3.5 million earlier this year from the sale of some property owned by John J Fleming Construction to University College Cork.

The papers, filed by receiver Bill O’Riordan of PricewaterhouseCoopers, show that the property, at Curraheen on the western edge of Cork city, was sold to the university for €3.55 million. Of this, Nama received €3.51 million.

A second document, filed by Eoin Ryan of BDO, who was appointed by EBS, shows the company has 38 residential properties, which are valued at €6.6 million.

Anglo Irish Bank, now known as Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, appointed Mr O’Riordan. Tivway owed the bank €260 million. Kenneth Fennell of Kavanagh Fennell was appointed liquidator to the company.

Nama recently put Fota Island resort, which consists of a five-star hotel, two golf courses and 120 lodges, on the market. It is known to have attracted a number of bids. One is led by former professional golfer and K Club director John McHenry. Thai billionaire Andrew Yau, who operates a number of golf resorts in the Far East, has reportedly tabled another bid.

Cohalan Downing and Colliers International are selling the property on the instructions of Mr O’Riordan. It has a guide price of €20 million.

The Fleming group ran into problems when it launched a partly built residential, office and retail scheme in Sandyford, Co Dublin, just as the market collapsed. It had paid Treasury Holdings €245 million for more than 11 acres in Sandyford in 2005.

Mr Fleming is from Barryroe in Co Cork and he built his construction and property business from scratch. At its height, it was involved in residential, commercial and industrial building. Mr Fleming moved to England in 2010 and was declared bankrupt in November that year by an Essex court. He was discharged from bankruptcy in November 2011.