THE PROPERTY company run by Brian O’Donnell – the lawyer who was last week ordered to pay €71.5 million to Bank of Ireland – has had approaches from potential buyers interested in two assets in Britain and the US.
The High Court last week ordered Mr O’Donnell and his wife, Dr Mary Pat O’Donnell, and a number of companies with which they are associated, to repay €71.5 million in property loans and guarantees to Bank of Ireland in the latest round of litigation that has been running since January.
The pair are founders and shareholders in Vico Capital, a property company with assets in Ireland, Britain, Europe and the US.
A number of parties are said to have expressed interest in two of its properties, an office block on Pennsylvania Avenue in US capital Washington DC, and a commercial property in Westferry Circus in London’s Canary Wharf. Vico Capital itself did not comment on the matter yesterday.
The London property is leased to Morgan Stanley until 2036, while the Washington block has a number of tenants, including multinational law firm Holland Knight and a local merchant bank.
Vico has two other properties, one in Canary Wharf and the other in Stockholm, which is let to the Swedish revenue commissioners.
Speaking on RTÉ radio at the weekend about his court battle with Bank of Ireland, Mr O’Donnell pointed out that earlier this year the company sold the Sanctuary building in Westminster, London, for more than £200 million – a price that ensured it was able to clear a €30 million debt due to AIB which was secured against the property.
He said Bank of Ireland originally wanted the property sold to a Spanish pension fund in a deal that would have resulted in it getting just €6 million of the €30 million due to it.
Mr O’Donnell told Marian Finucane’s radio show that within the bank, the deal was seen as an “unbelievably” good result.
The debt that resulted in last week’s judgment order was originally €63 million, but interest and other payments left the total due at €71.5 million.
Mr O’Donnell said the bank forwarded the loan to his business for the purchase of properties that were still performing well.
Last week the bank’s lawyers told the court the O’Donnells had failed to meet the terms of a settlement agreed with the bank, including making an €8.5 million payment in July and a €20 million payment at the end of last month.
Mr O’Donnell said at the weekend that the bank’s senior management and executives had rebuffed his and his companies’ efforts to meet them and negotiate a settlement.
He said that he had put eight proposals to settle the debt to the bank, all of which had been rejected.
He added that the latest was proposed days before the court hearing.
The couple were not in court when the judgment was made against them.
Mr O’Donnell said that this was because the notification of the proceedings was served on a law firm which was no longer acting for him, and added that this had been explained to the bank’s own law firm.
