Suppliers likely to be hit in Ellen wind-up

UNSECURED CREDITORS are unlikely to recover any of the €8 million owed to them by Ellen Construction, which is currently being wound up and whose main assets are in receivership.

Ellen, founded and owned by Wexford brothers Martin and Michael Doran, became one of a number of high-profile casualties of the building slump when its banks placed it in receivership in 2009 with a deficit of €46.7 million and debts of €86 million.

A final statement of affairs for Ellen, which was completed recently, shows it still owes almost €8 million to unsecured creditors, a group that largely consists of suppliers, sub contractors and service providers.

The statement shows there are no assets left that can be used to cover this debt, and as a result, these creditors are unlikely to recover anything.

Ellen owes over €978,000 to preferential creditors, who are entitled to collect before those with unsecured status.

There is also a provision of €177,000 to cover an amount due under a floating charge, along with receivers’ fees and costs.

The remaining assets in the company are valued at €1.1 million.

A recent meeting of the company’s creditors appointed Flavien Murphy, principal of Dublin specialist firm, Irish Liquidations, as liquidator to the company.

Two receivers, Martin Ferris of Ferris and Associates and Kieran Wallace of KPMG, took over various assets on behalf of secured creditors who were owed a total of €77.5 million in November 2009.

Ulster Bank appointed Mr Wallace, who is responsible mainly for a development at Island Key in Dublin. AIB appointed Mr Ferris, who is responsible for a series of assets in Waterford and the southeast.

The receivers are managing these properties on the banks’ behalf and are attempting to clear the company’s debts by selling the homes and apartments in the various developments.

The Dorans founded Ellen in 1995 as demand for residential and commercial property in the Republic was growing.

The company grew as the market expanded in the 1990s and boomed in the following decade.

At the height of the construction and property bubble, it employed about 400 people and would have provided work for many more sub contractors and suppliers.

It had 70 staff when it was placed in receivership in 2009.

The company’s heartland was in Wexford and the southeast, where it was based, and had developments in areas including New Ross, Enniscorthy and Waterford.

It was also an active player in the Dublin market.

It built the Bewley’s Hotels at Newlands Cross and Ballsbridge, and subsequently Manchester; the Winter Garden apartments on Pearse Street; the Rochestown Lodge Hotel in Dún Laoghaire; and the Killiney Court in Killiney.