McInerney, one of the country’s oldest housebuilders, was back at the High Court yesterday in its bid to secure examinership for its Irish operations. It is being opposed by Bank of Ireland and Anglo who together with non-NAMA bank KBC make up €114.5m of the €236m of debt owed by the group. It is suspected that NAMA is behind the banks’ opposition to the examinership though interestingly a report in today’s Independent claims NAMA is neutral even though NAMA has rights to approve bank actions on NAMA-bound assets and has effective control over Bank of Ireland and Anglo’s treatment of the loans? Strange.
McInerney secured an interim examinership on 26th August, 2010 with the appointment of joint interim examiners William O’Riordan and Declan McDonald of PricewaterhouseCoopers over McInerney Homes, McInerney Construction (Holdings) Limited, McInerney Contracting Limited and McInerney Contracting Dublin Limited.. However it will be on Monday next when the company will learn if the courts are willing to grant full examinership which would afford the company protection from creditors for 70-100 days whilst it works through its difficulties. McInerney claim that 100 jobs depend on getting examinership.
Yesterday McInerney outlined its plans to the High Court judge Mr Justice Frank Clarke through the capable senior counsel John Hennessey. It is reported by RTE that the plans projected prices in the State to remain flat for the remainder of this year and next and then for there to be 2%, 3% and 5% growth in the three succeeding years. The equally capable Rossa Fanning represented the BoI-Anglo-KBC banking syndicate and RTE report that the banks claim McInerney plans are too optimistic. RTE’s reporting suggests that this is referring to the price projections.
With inflation turning positive, it would seem plausible that the banks are saying not only that prices in real terms in 2015 will be less than today but that this is an optimistic assessment of the future. And at the same time we have the controller of the banks, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan claiming we are at the bottom and we have NAMA, whose success is predicated on buying loans at the bottom.
NAMA Wine Lake 
“flat for the remainder of this year and next and then for there to be 2%, 3% and 5% growth in the three succeeding years”
If inflation rises so will interest rates and taken with three further deficit reducing budgets, inventory overhangs and declining population and employment, these rates look very, very optimistic IMHO.
I would have to agree but surprisingly the banks do too, and yet they along with NAAM are “banking” on a recovery. I just hope the next time a journalist is interviewing a CEO from the banks or one of the mandarins that they counter any suggestion of the “bottom” with the court-deposited view that we are still in for falls.