McInerney Holdings delists from Irish and British stock exchanges

HOUSEBUILDING group McInerney Holdings has delisted from the Irish and London stock exchanges, saying it isn’t in a position to meet its obligations for being a publicly owned company. The group is currently in examinership.

In a statement yesterday, McInerney’s management said the group’s board had concluded it was no longer in the best interests of the company — or its shareholders — to remain a publicly listed entity, as the business “is no longer in a position to meet its continuing obligations for listing”.

It added that formal approval for the move from existing shareholders will not be sought.

“The board has concluded that the continued listing of the shares of the company would jeopardise the successful implementation of any investment or similar arrangement that may be agreed by the examiner to ensure the survival of the company or companies in its group,” it added.

McInerney has debts of around €115 million owing to Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank and KBC Bank, with The High Court recently saying that it would continue to offer protection to the company — under the examinership — until December 3.

McInerney went into examinership in September, amid talk of potential investors and agreements with its lenders.

It made a €17m pre-tax loss in the first half of this year.

Court protection was extended to the group of five businesses earlier this month, despite opposition by the three banks to which the housebuilder owes money — each of which are against the examinership.

The decision, by the High Court to continue protection until the beginning of December was made after the judge (Justice Frank Clarke) said that he couldn’t conclude there was absolutely no realistic chance of the examiner succeeding in arriving at a scheme that could succeed in saving the company.

US private equity house Oaktree Capital has been linked to a €40m investment in McInerney.