FINANCIER DEREK Quinlan’s wife Siobhán and children were left in tears at their London home after witnessing him being subjected “to very strong words” from property developer Paddy McKillen, or his agents, a London court was told.
Richard Faber, a senior executive working for the billionaire Barclay brothers, claimed that he had “gone around” to Mr Quinlan’s Putney home last year to get him to sign an exclusivity agreement in the brothers’ bid to win control over three London luxury hotels.
“I was running late for dinner elsewhere and arrived at about 7 or 8 o’clock, to find the house in what I can only describe as a state. Mrs Quinlan and her small children were in tears,” he said, in a witness statement.
“I surmised that Mr Quinlan had been subjected to some very strong words from Mr McKillen or those acting for him, during the afternoon. It was very embarrassing having to get Mr Quinlan to sign the exclusivity in these circumstances,” he went on.
The Barclay brothers had wanted Mr Quinlan off the board of Coroin, which controls Claridge’s, the Connaught and the Berkeley hotels, because of the publicity he was attracting following the property crash.
“The last thing we wanted was to have on the board one of Ireland’s most notoriously ‘embattled’ former property tycoons. Mr Quinlan and his difficulties were constantly the subject of press comment,” he said, adding that his side did not have a problem with Mr Quinlan’s colleague Gerry Murphy because “he did not have the same notoriety”.
“It was very bad for our ability to deal with banks to have someone like him on the board, when, frankly, there was no clear reason to do so.”
The Barclays’ side is disparaging of Mr McKillen’s efforts over the last two years to raise capital to replace the National Asset Management Agency, which had taken over €800 million worth of debt incurred by Mr Quinlan.
“Following a long discussion with Mr [Liam] Cunningham, [Mr McKillen’s colleague], I was very unimpressed with his approach. It was all completely unrealistic and naive and seemed to me to be calculated as much as anything to frustrate Mr McKillen’s creditors,” Mr Faber wrote.
Mr McKillen’s demand for a £5 million management to run the hotels “was ridiculous in the circumstances” given that it would have “equalled 10 per cent of the luxury hotel group’s profits”, said Mr Faber.
