Tony O’Reilly home sold for €7.4m

Businessman Tony O’Reilly’s former Irish home in Kilcullen, Co Kildare, was sold for €7.4m last January, a court has been told.

The bulk of the proceeds of the sale of ‘Castlemartin’ has gone towards reducing his personal debt to AIB to around €14.3m.

However, the Commercial Court was also told that AIB wants to cross-examine Mr O’Reilly in court as to whether he has any other means of satisfying the €22.6m judgment entered against him last June.

The court heard he is to participate in the equivalent of Irish personal insolvency arrangements in the Bahamas, where he has a home.

His doctor in New York said last month the 79-year-old should not travel for at least two months, AIB says.

Judgments for €18.5m and €4.1m respectively were also entered last June against two of his investment vehicles, Brookside Investments Ltd and Cyprus-registered Indexia Holdings.

Indexia’s debt now stands at around €10m following the sale of 8.9m shares in Independent News and Media for €1.5m, said AIB senior manager Mark Harris.

While these measures to meet the debt have taken place, Mr Harris says Mr O’Reilly and the two companies have failed or refused to consensually disclose other financial information.

As a result, AIB brought an application before Mr Justice Brian McGovern for an order that Mr O’Reilly and others connected with the companies attend before the Commercial Court to be examined. The matter was adjourned to next month.

The bank seeks orders that Mr O’Reilly disclose records and accounts relating to the following companies: Galicia Management Ltd, Birchfield Holdings Ltd, Balinae Enterprises Ltd, Araphoe Investments Ltd, Glandore Ltd, Arquette Ltd, Collins Hill Investments Ltd and Halsey Investments (Cayman) Ltd.

It also wants him to disclose details on oath of any asset transfers, worth more than €10,000, made within the last five years.

The banks also wants orders allowing it examine under oath Elena Mixahlidou and Xrista Theodrou, directors of Indexia, and company secretary Eirene Loytee. It also seeks up-to-date accounts from Indexia.

It also seeks to examine Pauline O’Donovan, director of Brookside, and company secretary/director James Kelly, and also wants copies of its latest audited accounts.

It wants an order requiring the defendants to furnish charts displaying the ownership structure of any assets indirectly and/or beneficially held by intermediate companies.