The High Court has confirmed the appointment of an examiner to Workman’s Club Ltd, part of the former Press Up hospitality and entertainment group founded by Patrick McKillen jnr and Matthew Ryan.
Ms Justice Eileen Roberts said on Monday she was satisfied to appoint Declan McDonald of PwC as examiner to the company.
The confirmation of Mr McDonald as examiner follows a petition for court protection brought on behalf of the company by Kelley Smith SC, instructed by Gavin Simons, partner in AMOSS solicitors, earlier this month. Mr McDonald was appointed as interim examiner to the company following that petition.
The company runs the Workman’s Club, a bar and live music venue on Dublin’s Wellington Quay close to Temple Bar.
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Declan Murphy BL, for Mr McDonald and instructed by Matheson, told Ms Justice Roberts his client, after preparing an interim examiner report, was of the opinion the company had a reasonable prospect of survival as a going concern. The judge noted the emergence of some potential investors in the company.
The court had previously heard the company has an excess of liabilities over assets and is unable to pay debts as they fall due.
The application to confirm Mr McDonald as examiner was not opposed by a number of creditors represented in court, including the Revenue Commissioners, financiers RELM Capital, and Lolapop Ltd, the landlord of the Wellington Quay property.
The judge made orders joining the creditors as notice parties to the proceedings.
Press Up was renamed the Eclective Group last February following its take over and running by Cheyne Capital.
Press Up, at its height, operated some 50 bars, restaurants and hotels with 1,600 employees.
In October 2021, the group was refinanced to the tune of €55.5 million by Cheyne Capital and deleveraging began with the selling off of the hotels in the group, the Dean and Clarence, the court petition stated.
Full deleveraging did not take place and Cheyne took over management in July 2024 when it says it discovered depleted stock levels, substantial arrears to suppliers, deferred maintenance and limited reinvestment.
It was decided that four of its operating entities would enter receivership so that the core business and a broader restructuring could take place along with an injection of new money from Cheyne which took 95 per cent of the group’s shareholding in a debt for equity swap and installed its own management team.
The company now operates 12 Dublin venues, including Peruke and Periwig on Dawson Street, Doolally on Richmond Street, and the Workman’s Club on Wellington Quay. It has 55 full time employees out of a total of 362.
