Eddie Hobbs, the television personality and director of property fund Brendan Investments, says he has made a formal complaint to the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority over articles that have appeared in the Sunday Independentabout the fund.
Mr Hobbs has asked the financial regulator to undertake a full investigation. He alleges that two recent articles in the newspaper have been based on leaked information "from within the regulatory system".
A spokeswoman for the regulator said she could not confirm a complaint had been received as it does not "discuss individual firms".
Brendan Investments, which is seeking to raise up to €250 million to invest in property in Germany, the UK, Portugal and the Republic, is not directly supervised by the financial regulator. However, the prospectus it distributes to potential investors falls under the European Commission's 2005 prospectus directive, which is overseen jointly by the regulator and the Irish Stock Exchange.
This week Brendan Investments issued an updated prospectus for its pan-European property fund. One of the main features of the new prospectus is an updated analysis of the property markets in the targeted countries by property consultants CB Richard Ellis.
Brendan Investments was criticised for basing its original business plan on a CBRE report published in August 2006.
Other directors of the fund are Vincent Regan, Hugh O'Neill and Pat Owens.
Brendan Investments deals directly with the public.
