In yesterday’s Sunday Times (behind a paywall, I’m afraid), journalist Gavin Daly reveals yet another Irish developer casualty, with news from the UK Insolvency Service that Tony Fitzpatrick has been declared bankrupt in a London court. This brings to at least 14* the number of NAMA developers that have been declared bankrupt in the UK.
Tony’s brother Patrick Fitzpatrick was declared bankrupt in the UK on 12th April, 2012 and their partner in the Beacon South Quarter development in Sandyford in Dublin, Paddy Shovlin, was declared bankrupt on 29th May 2012, again in the UK. It seems that Tony Fitzpatrick and Paddy Shovlin are practically neighbours given the addresses given by both on their bankruptcy application – Tony lives at 11 Clark House on Coleridge Gardens in Earl’s Court, London SW10 whilst Paddy resides at 14 Mathison House on Coleridge Gardens. Just two ordinary bankrupts in a better part of the mixed-character Earl’s Court district in south west London!
NAMA recently claimed it was neutral on the jurisdiction in which its developers were declared bankrupt, and pointed to the expertise of UK bankruptcy officials in tracing assets across borders. In the UK, the standard bankruptcy period is 12 months. In Ireland for those with debts over €3m, it is 5-12 years and that is not changed by the recent introduction of a Personal Insolvency Bill which holds out the promise of a 3-year bankruptcy period for those with debts of less than €3m.
* Ray Grehan, Danny Grehan, Tom McFeely, John Fleming, Bernard Doyle, Patrick Fitzpatrick, Paddy Shovlin, Alastair Jackson, Fergal McAlinden, Peter McDaid, Mervyn McAlister, Peter Dolan, Sam Thompson.
UPDATE: 9th July, 2012. As pointed out by Gavin Daly below, there are two more names to add, Michael Doran and Martin Doran, who were declared bankrupt a couple of months back and that was reported by Gavin. A couple of weeks ago, NAMA had receivers appointed to their company, Ellen Construction.
Perhaps Ireland should change its insolvency laws…?
Normal people would bemefit as well…
Do you reckon Mr Fitzpatrick will be obliged to sell any engagement rings or the like to pay his creditors? Somehow, I think it’s rather unlikely.
@OMF,does his wife/wag have a large jewelry collection,I may be interested in his debts.You appear overtly interested in crime and punishement,receiving end I assume.
@NWL. For the record (Cut and pasted from the Sunday Times)
Fitzpatrick follows brother’s UK bankrupt trail
Gavin Daly Published: 8 July 2012
TONY FITZPATRICK, the Dublin property developer, has followed his brother Patrick and Paddy Shovlin, his business partner, into bankruptcy in the UK.
Fitzpatrick, a member of the Fitzpatrick hotel family, was declared bankrupt on May 28 in the High Court in London. He moved to London last year from Foxrock in south Dublin.
The developer’s bankruptcy filing lists a residential address in the upmarket Belgravia area of London and a business address at serviced offices in Chelsea. Fitzpatrick will be discharged automatically from bankruptcy on May 28 next year.
The Fitzpatricks and Shovlin owned Landmark Developments, which built the Beacon South Quarter project in Sandyford in south Dublin. Bank of Ireland lent Landmark €280m to fund the development, but the firm was put into receivership in 2010 after its loans were transferred to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
The three businessmen were the first borrowers pursued by Nama for personal guarantees, and have also been chased by Bank of Scotland.
Receivers were appointed recently to their personal interests, including the Jack’s Hole mobile home park at Brittas Bay in Co Wicklow, and a helicopter operating company.
Patrick Fitzpatrick was declared bankrupt in Brighton in April, and Shovlin followed at the High Court in London in May. Dozens of Irish business people, including developers, have sought bankruptcy in the UK, where the regime is more lenient.
Stuart Kelly, a founder of mobile operator Just Mobile, which collapsed last year, has also been declared bankrupt after a move to England.
Kelly was sales director at Just Mobile, which was set up as a virtual operator using Vodafone’s network.
It was backed by Sean Melly, the entrepreneur, but went into liquidation after less than a year when fundraising efforts failed.
The company lost €2m.
Kelly was declared bankrupt on June 22 in Portsmouth County Court.
@OMF. We lose our logic in vindictiveness – A bad thing for a mathematician. The problem we Irish have is that our memories are too long. We hold bitterness and vindictiveness for hundreds of years.
We whinge constantly about the past four years and are unable to move on and think positively. We will still be doing it 10 years from now because we are not going to get out of this mess under the current policies or with the current “leaders”. We need forget the past, and move on with our lives here or move out of the country. The fact is that it is difficult to see a future, or wealth creation of any consequence, in Ireland for most people over the next twenty years.
@NWL
Perhaps these two could be added to the List above
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18734359
Adrian Nicholl
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-13990837
Sean McWilliams
These two may not be regarded as being in the same league as Ray and John but still deserve to be added to list
@Patrick, do you have a link which suggests that these two are in NAMA? The first seems to be a BoS(I) developer and BoS(I) is not a NAMA bank/ The second is an Anglo developer, but not all NAMA bank developers moved to NAMA – the best example might be Sean Quinn, whose Anglo loans stayed in Anglo despite Sean’s €2.8bn debt to Anglo being just as systemic as Paddy McKillen’s. And speaking of Paddy McKillen, NAMA announced in July 2011 that it was not taking over his loans.