DEVELOPER SEÁN Dunne has moved to shield from public view the fiscal affairs of two key companies in his property empire by adopting unlimited liability status for them, lifting the obligation on them to publicly file accounts.
Newly available filings to the Companies Office show that property development company Mountbook Homes and its subsidiary Beara Properties, which are ultimately controlled by Mr Dunne and his family, each took out unlimited liability status in June.
Such a move is not without risk as company owners become liable for all company obligations and can have their personal assets seized if company assets cannot satisfy claims against it.
It is not the first time that company’s in Mr Dunne’s group have adopted unlimited liability. JDPHC, a core company in the corporate structure through which Mr Dunne owns the Jurys hotel complex in Ballsbridge, also has unlimited liability.
Mr Dunne, who said in a New York Times interview last January that he “could be considered insolvent” if the banking crisis continued, ranks among Ireland’s biggest developers.
He is best known for amassing the Jurys site at a cost of €379 million in 2005 with the help of loans from Ulster Bank, an institution now owned by the British government following the nationalisation of parent Royal Bank of Scotland.
An Bord Pleanála turned down his €1.5 billion plan for the Jurys site earlier this year, a move that met with a promise from Mr Dunne to revise his proposal.
When contacted yesterday, an executive directed queries about Mountbrook’s adoption of unlimited liability status to Ross Connolly, a director of the company. He did not return calls.
Mountbrook incurred a pretax loss of €203,619 and a net loss of €453,859 in the year to October 2007, the latest period for which accounts are available. The previous year it reported a €1.56 million pretax profit. Turnover declined to €3.85 million from €8.3 million.
