A company linked to bankrupted property developer Thomas McFeely has been told it will be given no more time by a master of High Court in London to prepare for a legal action taken by the Bank of Ireland.
"All your wriggle room is gone," Master Bowles told counsel for the Isle of Man- based company, Ashwood Enterprises, which owns a multi- million pound block of apartments called Athena Court in Stratford in London, near the Olympic Park.
Bankrupted in London
The registered proprietors of the property since January 2007 are Mr McFeely – who was bankrupted in London in January 2012 after an application by a Dublin-based purchaser of one of his homes, Theresa McGuinness – and his brother, Conal.
At the opening of the short pre-trial hearing in the Royal Court of Justice before Master Bowles, Hugh Page, for Ashwood, said both sides had reached agreement now needed before the case could begin in June. Bank of Ireland would have security over £75,000 worth of furniture in the Stratford apartment block, Fiona Dewars, for the bank, told Mr Bowles, adding no application was being made about costs.
Bank of Ireland gave a £49 million loan to Inis Developments Ltd – a Northern Ireland-registered company owned by the McFeelys. Inis's liabilities to Bank of Ireland were secured over the Stratford property by way of a first legal mortgage dated June 2007.
Pointing to the length of time it had taken to get the case fully ready for trial, Mr Bowles told Mr Page that both he and Bank of Ireland had “been pretty generously minded” over the last few months.
