An eye for what will do well

IT is just over two years since Liam Carroll emerged as the holder of almost 15% of Dunloe Ewart, the listed property company controlled by the high profile solicitor and former Ben Dunne advisor, Noel Smyth.

While Smyth, Dunloe Ewart's Chairman, is at home in the panelled boardrooms of Dublin 2, Carroll is happiest moving around his many sites in sweater and wellies.

Over the past dozen years, Carroll, through his corporate vehicle, Zoe Developments, emerged as the king of the Dublin apartment building scene. Zoe's early generation shoe box apartments with their tacky balconies spread across the city like a virus. Critics predicted that their resale prices would crash, but they had reckoned without the property boom and without Carroll's skill when it comes to site selection.

Between 1995 and 2000, it is estimated that Carroll and Zoe ran up 5,000 apartments around the city.

Cost control was prioritised. In the early days, Carroll avoided architects, keeping design work in house, sometimes working on his own sketches. However, health and safety matters would soon emerge to dog the builder.

In 1996, a 71 year old bricklayer died at a Zoe site on Parnell street and two years later, a young worker, Liam Masterson, perished in a fall at what was then Zoe's prime prestige project at Charlotte Quay beside the Grand Canal.

Carroll found himself up before the famously straight talking High Court judge, Peter Kelly, who administered a tongue lashing that was the stuff of nightmares. According to Judge Kelly, "Zoe was not entitled to make profit out of the blood and lives of workers."

Carroll has since carried out a major overhaul of safety practices. Ironically, the Charlotte Quay project was a sign of another major shift of emphasis on his part. The canny businessman has moved upmarket.

"His operation has changed out of all recognition. He now has a very professional team with a lot of people working on every project."

He also done the previously unthinkable and actually hired leading outside architects such as the award winning firm, O Mahony Pike.

While the builder can be abrasive when a supplier invited him to Cheltenham races, he reportedly wondered out loud whether that supplier might not be overcharging for his services he has his share of defenders. "He is 100% straight in his dealings. While he might drive a hard bargain, he does have integrity. He sticks to an agreement, even if it means he will lose out financially." says one leading property expert.

"He knows every inch of Dublin, every back lane and alleyway and that's not from reading maps. He has a huge appetite for site purchase. " And for a bargain, it seems. He picked up Charlotte Quay for £2m penthouse apartments there were later selling for close to that.

David Torpey has emerged as a key, right hand man. Torpey has been active in Construction Industry Federation circles and is regarded as astute.

While Carroll continues to eye the Grand Canal docks, in particular he would love to get his hands on a top drawer site at Sir John Rogerson's Quay owned by Dunloe Ewart he has moved his activities to the suburbs, snapping up sites in places such as Rathfarnham. At least part of Dunloe's "crown jewel " Cherrywood landholding beside the planned terminal for the Luas light rail might be up for grabs if as some believe, the company's assets are eventually subjected to a carve up.

Carroll, meanwhile, has surprised many in the property world by moving into the Dublin office market just as other developers are withdrawing.

He has targeted well located sites and has actually converted planning permissions from residential to office.

Analysts express some puzzlement over his motives in building up what amounts to a blocking stake in Dunloe Ewart with a 29% holding, just below the point where he would be obliged to bid for the company he can block any moves on the part of its Chairman, Noel Smyth.

Some point to a history of bad blood between the two men reputedly dating back to the Haughey years.

Carroll was also said to be annoyed when Smyth and Dunloe outbid him for the coveted site at Sir John Rogerson's Quay.

Another less dramatic plotline is centred on the proposition that even at forty two and a half cents a share the latest buyout offer from the Smyth camp to shareholders there is plenty of added value yet to be wrung out of Dunloe Ewart, particularly if one is an industry insider with an ability to secure added synergies from a combination of sites.

The arrival on the scene of Dermot Desmond and his Gibraltar registered Trust fund, Bottin Investments, has added plenty of fresh spice to what has been a long simmering dish.

This week's ruling that Carroll has not been acting in concert with either Desmond, or another major shareholder, Phil Monahan, veteran property developer and the man behind the huge "Square" development in Tallaght, has not squashed speculation about the role being played out behind the scenes by various business interests.

Monaghan and Carroll are fellow Dundalk boys made good, though their Monarch Properties Chairman is the senior by some twenty years. Monahan has not bothered to hide his disapproval of the business strategy and methods of the Dunloe Ewart Chairman.

In backing Carroll, the Monarch Chairman, who just five years ago, came close to entering into a partnership with Smyth, to develop Cherrywood, has argued that Dunloe "is going nowhere , at present" adding that " Noel Smyth is a solicitor, not a developer."

The softening commercial property market has led to a slowdown in activity at the key Dunloe sites at Cherrywood and Sir John Rogerson's Quay. In June, the company effectively moved much of its assets into cash with the sale of most of its Northern Ireland portfolio for just over 140m, a move made in the teeth of opposition from Liam Carroll. But Dunloe's share price has bucked the trend, up 39% since January 1 and up by 65% over the year.

In the view of one observer, Carroll now finds himself in pole position. "He can control the situation, delay any major move." Will he be happy to allow the stalemate to persist, or will he bid for outright control? And will Noel Smyth be able, in his turn, to hang on, prolonging the long face down between two of the most interesting characters on the Dublin property scene?