BUSINESSMAN PADDY McKillen was assured by the chief executive of what was formerly Anglo Irish Bank, Mike Aynsley, in text messages that the bank would not sell his debts to his rivals, the Barclay brothers, a London court was told.
Mr Aynsley texted Mr McKillen on January 27th, 2012, to say the bank, now known as Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, would not be selling the debt secured on his 36 per cent stake in the Maybourne hotels to the Barclays.
“BB have now been told that the bank has chosen a path to work consensually with you rather than to deal with them. I understand they are not happy!” Mr Aynsley said in a text message.
Seven minutes later, the bank chief executive sent Mr McKillen another text: “Please keep that confidential as I can’t have board positions like this leaking out!”
The text messages emerged on the third day of Mr McKillen’s court action against the attempts by the Barclays to seize control of the Claridges, Connaught and Berkeley hotels in London.
Mr McKillen had complained in his legal action that the billionaire brothers, owners of the Daily Telegraph, had tried to buy his debts to Anglo “behind my back”.
“That was not what a long-term partner should have been doing. So there was no credibility,” Mr McKillen told the court.
He personally owed the State-owned bank €240 million last year, of which €60 million was secured on his stake in the Maybourne hotels.
He said the bank’s chairman Alan Dukes had assured him that the bank would continue to support him as “a client of 25 years” on the basis he had the “best performing loans in the bank”.
He said the brothers had been trying to buy his debt from IBRC for “six or seven months”.
Mr McKillen said in his witness statement that Richard Faber, a director representing the Barclays, approached the Department of Finance on two occasions in November 2011 to try to put pressure on Anglo to sell his loans.
He said Mr Faber pointed out in an email to the department on November 3rd that “Nama did a deal with the Barclays in merely two days”.
