Farewell to ACC

Rabobank is preparing to shut down the last vestige of ACC Bank with the loss of more than 250 jobs, according to the Sunday Times.

The Dutch bank is to close ACC Loan Management, the work-out vehicle of the former state bank, and move the operation to Capita, an outsourcing company.

ACC will close by next June, the paper reported. A statement from Rabobank said that since exiting retail banking, ACC had continued to review options regarding the management of its loan book, including further outsourcing. No decision had yet been taken, it said.

IDA land purchase appeal

Co Kildare farmer Thomas Reid is to find out whether he is to be forced by the IDA to leave the 250-year-old home where his family have lived for three generations, reports the Sunday Business Post.

Mr Reid, whose residence, Hedsor House, is on 72 acres close to Intel’s chipmaking plant, has fought a five-year battle to stop the IDA buying the land by compulsory purchase order. The Supreme Court is to rule on the matter on Thursday.

The agency, which last issued such an order in 1988, has never commented on whether the purchase is being pursued to assist the expansion of Intel. “I think the IDA is actually acting as a stalking horse for Intel,” said Mr Reid.

Brands going begging

C&C, maker of Bulmers and Magners cider, is eyeing up brands to be discarded as a result of the merger of beer giants Anheuser-Busch InBev and SAB Miller.

The publicly-quoted company, which also owns Tennents lager, is known to be interested in beer brands to enlarge its portfolio in England and Wales, according to the Sunday Times. Sources said Bass, and Boddingtons, an English bitter, owned by AB InBev, would become available, for about €30 million each, if the €91 billion merger is agreed this week.

Ballsbridge property deal

Property developer John Ronan has bought a 3.7-acre site in Dublin 4 for about €200 million, in a deal financed by Cardinal Capital and Jefferies Loancore, according to the Sunday Independent.

The Ronan Group deal is for part of the AIB Bankcentre in Ballsbridge, a site bought by developer Sean Dunne in 2006. It was sold by a receiver appointed by Ulster Bank and Nama. Mr Ronan said he intends to redevelop the buildings on the site into grade-A office blocks.

Rent plan compromise

Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly is to bring forward compromise proposals to address the housing crisis, according to the Sunday Business Post.

Mr Kelly’s original demand was for rent increases to be limited for the next four years. As this is not likely to be met, he now aims to deliver a package which includes restrictions on the scale of rent increases in long-term leases and to require landlords to give 90 days’ notice of rent increases.