THE SUPREME Court has agreed to grant court protection for asset management firm First Equity which is insolvent because of the downturn in the global economy but has development projects said to be worth €1 billion.
First Equity’s main activity is introducing property and other investment opportunities to high net worth individuals and institutions and it has 400 such clients, most based here but some in the UK and US.
The company had “come unstuck” because it had not just acted in a brokerage capacity but also itself got involved in funding developments, its counsel, Lyndon MacCann, said. An independent accountant who believed the company has a reasonable prospect of survival once certain conditions are met had said the latter activity should cease, he added.
The three-judge Supreme Court yesterday overturned a High Court decision last week refusing to confirm the appointment of an examiner to the firm. Granting the company’s appeal against that refusal, Mr Justice Hugh Geoghegan, sitting with Mr Justice Nial Fennelly and Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, said the court would give its reasons later in a written judgment.
Mr Justice Geoghegan said the court’s decision was based on additional material put before the Supreme Court which was not before the High Court.
Earlier yesterday, John O’Donnell SC, for Lyons Kenny solicitors, owed some €2 million, said his clients were withdrawing opposition to the appointment of an examiner after receiving additional financial information from First Equity and were now supporting examinership.
Having granted the appeal, the Supreme Court made an order confirming Kieran Wallace, of accountancy firm KPMG, as examiner. He will now prepare a scheme of arrangement aimed at procuring the survival of the company. His counsel, Michael Cush, told the court there had been six general expressions of interest in investing in the company.
Last week, Mr Justice Brian McGovern had refused to appoint an examiner to First Equity after finding the evidence before him did not satisfy him that it has a reasonable prospect of survival.
