Business

Insurance companies say Covid payouts could cost them €20bn

Seen & Heard: Banks trim property valuations; Rent hardball at Omni; Goodman tidies up

Deserted streets in Dublin’s Temple Bar: insurance companies say they could face a bill of between €10 billion and €20 billion if they have to compensate businesses with notifiable disease cover for loss of earnings during the coronavirus crisis. Photograph: Lorraine O’Sullivan/Reuters

Sun Apr 19 2020 - 12:57

Insurance companies say they could face a bill of between €10 billion and €20 billion if they have to compensate businesses with notifiable disease cover for loss of earnings during the coronavirus crisis, the Sunday Times reports. Companies in the sector are compiling figures at the request of the Central Bank.

Banks are valuing properties at around 10 per cent less than prices already agreed between buyers and sellers, writes the Sunday Independent. The valuations threaten to leave buyers short of funds to complete purchases as the amount of mortgage finance approved is determined by the valuation.

Retailers at Omni Park shopping centre in Dublin's Santry suburb have been told they will face legal action over any unpaid rent and service charges, according to the Sunday Independent. The centre is owned by the McKeon family-controlled building group MKN and Goodbody private clients, the papers says.

"Beef baron" Larry Goodman has taken a firmer hold in the private hospital market, buying the 20 per cent stake in Blackrock Clinic held by co-founder Dr George Duffy, the Sunday Times reports. That brings his stake up to 84 per cent the paper says, with surgeon Jimmy Sheehan, another co-founder holding the remaining 16 per cent of the hospital.

READ MORE

One group of debtholders in Denis O'Brien's Digicel group has hired restructuring experts as they plan to oppose the deal the Irish telecoms entrepreneur is offering in efforts to cut borrowings by a quarter, the Business Post writes. However, the holdout on borrowings held by the group will not derail Digicel's plan to reduce its debt, the paper adds.

Running shoe group Asics is planning to open its first dedicated store in Ireland later this year, the Business Post writes. The standalone outlet in the former Clarks shoe shop on O'Connell Street, next to Easons, will be headed by the businessmen behind the Skechers franchise in Ireland – Paul Gallagher and Sunil Shah.

Eamon Waters, the man behind Panda Waste, has seen his Beauparc Utilities pay dividends of €124 million to Sretaw, a company he also controls, the Sunday Times reports. Beauparc owns the waste and recycling businesses of both Panda and Greenstar, as well as operations in Britain and the Netherlands. It is also a player in the electricity and gas supply sector in Ireland.

LATEST STORIES