Anglo knew risks of New York hotel deal, court hears

ANGLO Irish Bank is contending it relied on the hotel expertise of a US businessman when entering into a $50 million (€36.4m) deal to fund the purchase and development of two hotels in New York, the Commercial Court has heard.

That man, Timothy Haskin, general partner with Anglo in the Anglo Irish Hotels Fund, said yesterday he and Anglo “collectively” decided in 2006 to buy the hotels “with our eyes wide open”, knew there were risks involved, decided to take those risks and to “jump off the cliff together”.

Under cross-examination by Eoin McCullough SC, for Anglo, in a test case by investor Gerard McCaughey over the hotels deal, Mr Haskin said he believed original renovation cost projections of $31m for both hotels were reasonable and adequate and he had not expected them to increase significantly beyond that figure.