Boyd company told by UK court to pay £1m costs to Nama
A JUDGE has ordered a Northern Irish property development firm owned by Frank Boyd to pay £1m in costs to Nama after losing a legal fight over interest rate swap payments.
At the high court in London, judge Stephen Phillips said developer Alfred Street Properties must pay the full amount of costs after its near-£5m (€5.7m) suit against Nama, Ireland’s so-called bad bank, was dismissed following a trial in 2019. Boyd, a long-time property developer, is one of Northern Ireland’s richest men.
The order, dated March 25, stated that Alfred Street had already paid £770,000 to the court as security for costs. Judge Phillips handed the Belfast-based company a deadline of April 8 by which to pay the remaining balance. He said the order could not be appealed.
It is understood that Alfred Street applied early last week to the UK courts seeking permission to appeal the case.
Alfred Street’s case, in which it sought to recoup interest rate payments of swaps beginning in April 2012, was dismissed as a “highly opportunistic and meritless” claim in February 2020. The judge added that the claim “should not have been brought”.
Boyd’s company sued Nama, seeking the return of more than £4.7m in payments linked to interest rate agreements. The firm argued these were not legally due because the payments were authorised initially only over the phone.
Boyd’s business owns assets including Connswater Shopping Centre. It is also working on The Mercantile, an office block in Belfast.
According to the Belfast Telegraph , in 2007, Boyd’s firm Killultagh, now known as Alfred Street, borrowed £111.5m from Anglo Irish Bank. It then entered interest rate swap agreements with the bank, paying an upfront fee to lock in a fixed rate. The bank had the right to extend this for three years, provided it notified Killultagh before 11am on April 2, 2012.
Nama had acquired the bad loans of all Irish banks, taking on loans of about £196m related to Boyd’s wider business empire. On March 30, 2012, Nama — through an agent — decided to extend the swaps and locked Boyd’s company in for another three years on £50m worth of loans, costing Boyd £6.5m.