Sir Anthony O’Reilly, once one of Ireland’s most distinguished businessmen and the former global boss of Heinz, could be questioned in court over his financial means.
One of Ireland’s bailed-out banks, Allied Irish Banks (AIB), wants to cross-examine the former Lions rugby star on his ability to pay back €14.3m (£10.3m) in debt, the commercial court in Dublin has heard.
The hearing followed a €22.6m judgment against two of his companies, forcing him to sell his 300-hectare Castlemartin estate in Kildare.
The 18th-century mansion was reportedly sold to the US media mogul John Malone in January and the court heard that most of the €7.4m proceeds went towards the outstanding AIB debt.
O’Reilly was three times declared Ireland’s richest man, but lost his fortune in an attempt to revive the glass and china manufacturer Waterford Wedgwood and as a result of debts at the newspaper group Independent News & Media (INM), which he controlled before a boardroom bust-up with the telecoms tycoon Denis O’Brien.
INM, which owned about 200 titles, was worth up to €1bn during the Celtic Tiger boom.
AIB, which has refused to comment on the proceedings, moved against him last June with judgments against two of his companies, Indexia Holdings and Brookside Investments, for €18.6m and €4.1m respectively.
The commercial court was reportedly told that AIB wanted to question O’Reilly in court as to whether he had any further means of paying off his debt.
It also heard that he is to participate in a personal insolvency arrangement in the Bahamas, where O’Reilly also has a home.
According to a report in the Irish Times last year, the banks had agreed behind closed doors on a debt-reduction programme with O’Reilly. He had sold his shares in Heinz and other companies and a further private residence in one of Dublin’s most prestigious addresses, Fitzwilliam Square.
After the judgment, O’Reilly also put Castlemartin, famed for its art work and its stud farm and related lands, up for sale. A third home in Glandore, west Cork, was also put on the market.
Mark Harris, a senior manager at AIB, said receivers were appointed to sell the Cork property, Shorecliffe, but it remained on the market and it was hoped a buyer would be found in the near future.
It was reported that O’Reilly re-mortgaged the Glandore property with AIB in early 2009 at the height of the financial crisis. He had the property valued at €4.3m and AIB lent him almost €4m, secured on the house and Brookside’s then bank balance of €278,000.
Harris sought an order in the commercial court in Dublin on Monday to get further disclosure about the two companies.
The case was adjourned to next month.
