Cullen car empire placed in receivership

Bill Cullen's car empire, Glencullen Holdings, has gone into receivership.

Ulster Bank has confirmed it has appointed a receiver to the company.

Mr Cullen — who fronted The Apprentice on TV3 — became Renault’s distributor in Ireland in 1986 only for the relationship to be terminated in 2011.

But the company has been struggling in recent years, recording a pre tax loss of almost €10.5m in 2009, and a further loss of €1.4m in 2010.