NAMA allowed Ronan to sell €300k eaterie to sister... for only €10k

Then Treasury paid her €450k in management fees, wiping out Town Bar debt

DEVELOPER Johnny Ronan sold his sister an exclusive Dublin restaurant worth more than €340,000 for just €10,000 while he was in NAMA.

The tycoon also used Treasury Holdings, which was forced into liquidation this week, to pay €450,000 in ‘management fees’ to the Town Bar & Grill, the Kildare Street eatery of which his sister Gillian Kelly took control through one of her own companies last year.

In total, almost €800,000 was paid by his companies into the restaurant while NAMA was attempting to recover payment for his multibillion-euro debts.

The trendy Dublin restaurant, just 20 metres from the Dáil, was opened by restarauteur Ronan Ryan in 2002 but was taken over by Mr Ronan and his Treasury Holdings partner, Richard Barrett, when it

‘I offered €300,000 but

it was rejected’

got into financial trouble in 2009. A Treasury subsidiary, Ellandrock Ltd, bailed the company out of examinership, investing €338,000 to take over Town Bar & Grill.

But in 2011, just as NAMA began to take control of Mr Ronan’s empire, he off-loaded the restaurant to Mrs Kelly. Accounts for Ellandrock show that its investment had been written down from €338,000 to just €10,000 – ‘the agreed sale price’. Ronan insists she was the highest bidder.

Ellandrock’s accounts say it is a ‘wholly owned subsidiary of Treasury Holdings’, which owes €1.7bn to NAMA.

The transaction was revealed recently by Phoenix magazine. Now the MoS has also established that two mortgages with Bank of Ireland, taken out by Town Bar & Grill and secured on the premises, were cleared in full just six weeks after the sale to Mrs Kelly’s company.

Last night, previous owner Mr Ryan told the MoS that he and an investor had offered 30 times the price but was refused in favour of Mrs Kelly.

‘I made an offer of €300,000. I had the money there and an investor but it was rejected,’ said Mr Ryan.

Mr Ronan’s shares are controlled by one of a myriad companies he owns named Ardquade Ltd.

Sources say NAMA could not investigate the sale of the restaurant because it was not subject to a NAMA loan, yet company accounts show that the agency could have exercised a measure of control over the transaction.

Before the sale, Ardquade had debts of €3,437,708 and the accounts state that the company needed the approval of NAMA to continue as a going concern.

‘There are a number of uncertainties which could cast doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. These matters include the approval of the National Asset Management Agency of the company’s business plan and the continued support from group companies,’ the accounts said.

Accounts for Ellandrock show

‘She was by miles the

highest bidder’

that Treasury Holdings paid Town Bar & Grill €450,000 in ‘management fees’ which effectively wiped out any debt the restaurant had after Mrs Kelly took control.

Mr Ronan told the MoS he had ‘no comment’ but then insisted the sale was ‘legitimate’, saying: ‘She was the highest bidder. The sale went out to tender and she was by miles the highest bidder.’

Ms Kelly, when asked about the transactions said simply: ‘that’s incorrect. I have no further comment.’

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Treasury had sold a €20m stake in a Chinese property venture to its own bosses, Mr Ronan and Mr Barrett, for just €100,000 and an IOU back in 2010, despite the company’s huge debts. NAMA has opposed the deal in court, which the men insist was entirely above board.

On Friday, Treasury Holdings was put into receivership in the High Court at the request of KBC Bank, supported by NAMA. The firm owes KBC €90m - just a fraction of Treasury’s total €2.7bn debt of which NAMA is owed €1.7bn. Mr Ronan was not in court.