PROPERTY DEVELOPER Bernard McNamara transferred his shareholding in one of his companies to his wife Moira in September of last year. Mr McNamara, who was one of the most acquisitive Irish property developers at the height of the boom, was the subject of a €62.5 million judgment in a case taken against him in November 2009.
During the hearing, which was taken by a number of investors who gave money to Mr McNamara for investment in the purchase of the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend, Dublin, it was stated that Mr McNamara had no unencumbered assets.
A spokesman for Mr McNamara would not comment on the transfer of the shares in McNamara EMS, with an address in Dublin, to Ms McNamara. A spokesman for the investors who secured the €62.5 million judgment said they had no comment on the matter.
The latest filings for McNamara EMS are for the year to the end of March 2009 and show the company did not trade during that period and had a share capital of €3.
The principal activity of the company is given as property development.
The company’s latest annual return shows that on September 3rd, 2009, 100 of the company’s 101 issued shares were transferred from Messina Investments to Mr McNamara and that on the following day they were transferred to Ms McNamara.
The remaining share gives the holder the power to control the company’s board and is held by GPC nominees.
The share was transferred to GPC on September 3rd, 2009. The shareholders in GPC are Mr McNamara and one of his associates, Michael Flannery, financial director of Michael McNamara Co, the McNamara construction firm.
Mr McNamara, who was appointed a director of the company in May 2009, resigned as a director in January of this year, as did a number of his associates including Mr Flannery.
Ms McNamara is a director of a number of companies including the State company Tourism Ireland.
Last month the court heard the investors were for the time being not going to force Mr McNamara to disclose to the court a full list of his assets.
The investors, through their Jersey-registered company, Ringsend Property Ltd, were to privately receive a statement of affairs from the developer, the court was told.
Mr McNamara has been travelling regularly to the Middle East in relation to work there and the investors are seeking details of his involvements there.
According to a recent edition of the Facilities Management Middle East publication, Arabian McNamara Contracting has been engaged by Qatar Airways to work on a new terminal at Doha International Airport, with the contract having a value of between $16 million and $30 million. It is understood that Arabian McNamara is a joint venture involving a McNamara company and a local business group.
The investors who secured a €62.5 million judgment against Mr McNamara also secured a judgment of €98 million against one of his companies, Donatex.
Donatex was the vehicle into which the investors put their money in order to benefit from the planned redevelopment of the Ringsend site.
The site was bought for more than €400 million and may now be worth less than €50 million. The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA), which was part of the consortium that bought the site along with Donatex, has valued its share of the deal at nil.
The third shareholder in the consortium was financier Derek Quinlan.
The bulk of the funds for the Ringsend site purchase came from the now nationalised Anglo Irish Bank.
