ONE OF the State's biggest developers has sidestepped a bid to have his main trading company wound up by settling a six-figure debt with a photographic agency.
The Liam Carroll-controlled Danninger yesterday settled an outstanding debt, said to be €140,000, with John Whyte Fine Art Photography Ltd, which had petitioned the High Court to have Danninger wound up.
Mr Whyte confirmed that his company had made a settlement with Danninger, although he would not go into details of the amount involved or the action that the firm had taken.
His lawyers, Gallagher Shatter, petitioned the court to wind up, or liquidate, the company in an effort to have the debt repaid.
Creditors of companies can seek to have them wound up to have the money the business owes to them paid back.
Danninger moved to settle the debt yesterday afternoon and avoided the necessity of having the issue raised in court.
Mr Whyte said yesterday that he believed that Danninger may have simply overlooked the debt in the first place. He added that his business had a good working relationship with Mr Carroll's operations.
Efforts to contact Mr Carroll yesterday for a comment were not successful.
Mr Carroll's companies have been involved in a number of court actions in the past, largely related to disputes over planning or property transactions.
Last year, Danninger challenged a Dublin Bus decision to award the €30 million contract for the construction of a new bus interchange in the capital's centre to Deepdrill Developments and Bennett Construction.
In the past, his companies have clashed with those of another developer, Noel Smyth, from whom he took control of the former Dunloe Ewart property group in 2002 after a protracted takeover battle.
The low-profile Mr Carroll is one of the most active property developers in the State, and has a range of operating companies, one of the largest of which is Danninger, an unlimited company with offices on Parnell Street on Dublin's northside.
Through the 1990s, his Zoe Developments built a large number of apartments, mainly in Dublin's city centre, and he earned money from selling, renting and managing these properties.
One of his higher profile developments is the converted gasworks in the Ringsend area of Dublin.
His takeover of Dunloe Ewart gave him the Cherrywood business park in Loughlinstown in Dublin, which he is currently developing, and a considerable landbank in the city's south docklands.
He is one of the bigger players in Dublin's docklands. He has also invested in listed companies. He owns over 26 per cent of ICG, the parent of Irish Ferries, which was the focus of two rival bids, one from its management and the other from a consortium made up of Doyle Shipping and Philip Lynch.
That is due to come into play shortly following a moratorium imposed by the Takeover Panel.
Mr Carroll has at various times bought and sold stakes in other quoted companies.
