The High Court will decide today whether to continue an order restraining Bank of Scotland (BoS) selling to a hedge fund loans of some €67 million owed to it by a shipping firm here employing more than 300 people.

The Doyle Group wants to refinance its BoS loans with Ulster Bank and claims the proposed sale to the Blue Bay fund would be “calamitous”.

The group, a holding company for several firms providing services at major Irish ports, claims the bank’s attempt to sell the debt to a third party amounts to breach of an agreement . The group previously secured an interim injunction restraining BoS transferring to any third party any right, interest or obligation under that agreement.