Deadline extended for McInerney interim examiner

The High Court extended protection to the troubled McInerney building group until November 2.

Mr Justice Frank Clarke said he would give interim examiner, William O'Riordan, until October 29 to come up with a full scheme for survival of the group comprising McInerney Holdings, McInerney Homes, McInerney Construction Holdings, McInerney Contracting and McInerney Contracting Dublin, which have combined debts of €200m.

The court heard the examiner believed the group had a reasonable prospect of survival based on investment proposals from US private equity group Oaktree Capital.

Three banks - Anglo Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland and KBC - are owed €114m by the group and oppose the survival proposal which they say is being put forward on a significant write-down of the debt owed to them.

Rossa Fanning BL, for the banks, said there was no reasonable prospect of survival and asked that any extension of time for the examiner be kept to just two weeks rather than the four weeks being sought by the examiner.

It appeared Oaktree had "metamorphosed" from being an equity investor into the role of bank, Mr Fanning said.

John Hennessey SC, for McInerney, said interrupting the examinership process at this stage would be extremely counter-productive. Eoin McCullough SC, for the examiner, said a two-week extension would not be a sufficient period of time to come up with the survival plan.

Mr Justice Clarke said the examiner's latest report found there was a realistic possibility at this stage that Oaktree is willing to put up sufficient sums which is said to be greater than what would be realised in a situation of insolvency.

It would take some time for the examiner to engage with creditors and shareholders over their acceptance of such a survival proposal and he was prepared to continue court protection until November 2.

If no survival scheme is in place by then, a full hearing would take place on November 5 into whether or not the examinership should be confirmed.

Last month, interim examiner O'Riordan was appointed to the group despite the opposition of the three banks.

The parent company, McInerney Holdings, sought the appointment of an interim examiner while it negotiated a restructuring of debts and new investment for the group.

The court has heard that other parties, including NAMA, the Revenue Commissioner and other banking creditors of the group, were taking a neutral stance in regards to the appointment of an examiner.