€500,000 plan eases concerns of Clerys concession holders

Former concession holders at Clerys look set to share about €500,000 under a plan drafted by the provisional liquidators of the entity that operated the department store until its dramatic closure on June 12th.

Up to 50 concession holders could share this money, subject to the approval of the High Court.

This will represent a significant haircut on the €2 million to €3 million they are thought to be owed in merchandising sales dating back to the start of May.

This development appears to have persuaded a group of Irish shareholders not to seek to block the appointments of Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of KPMG as liquidators at a High Court hearing on Monday.

It is understood that the 11 concessionaires had voted 9-2 earlier this week in favour of seeking to block the appointment of the liquidators on conflict of interest grounds.

However, their concerns appear to have been assuaged and they have now reversed this decision.

This group of concession holders was owed about €750,000.

The liquidators are believed to have about €620,000 in cash relating to OCS Operations Ltd to disburse to creditors.

OCS Operations along with two related companies was sold in the early hours of June 12th by Boston-based Gordon Brothers to Natrium Ltd, a joint venture between Deirdre Foley's D2 Private and Cheyne Capital Management in the UK.

Natrium then immediately sold on OCS Operations to UK insolvency specialist Jim Brydie, who sought to place the company into provisional liquidation.

Sudden closure

This move resulted in Clerys ceasing trading with immediate effect after 162 years of business on O’Connell Street.

Some 130 Clerys staff were made redundant along with most of the 330 employees of the concession holders.

Natrium retained ownership of the property that Clerys occupied on O’Connell Street and plans to redevelop the site.

KPMG’s potential conflict related to the fact that the firm is auditor to a number of companies associated with Ms Foley’s D2 Private, which is a member of the Natrium joint venture.