Property developer Ray Grehan has been declared bankrupt in Britain, insolvency papers showed today.
Mr Grehan, who was last year ordered by an Irish court to repay some €300 million to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), is the latest casualty of the country's financial crisis to declare under Britain's bankruptcy laws.
Mr Grehan and brother Danny developed apartments, hotels and fitness centres before Ireland's property bubble burst in 2008.
While Ireland has cut the time needed to be discharged from bankruptcy to five years from 12, and plans to further ease this duration, the process typically lasts only 12 months in Britain.
The bankruptcy could complicate a move by Nama against Mr Grehan in November, when he was ordered to repay €312 million.
British bankruptcy proceedings free an applicant from overwhelming debts, subject to restrictions, and share out assets fairly among creditors, according to the UK Insolvency Service.
"Clearly we will review the situation but our focus remains on recovering the maximum debt for the Irish taxpayer," a spokesman for Nama now one of the world's biggest property groups, told Reuters.
Created to purge Irish banks of their risky property loans, Nama shelled out just shy of €31 billion on loans valued at more than €72 billion at the height of the property bubble. Even with such a large discount, the agency took a €1.5-billion impairment charge last year.
Mr Grehan, whose brother also owes Nama some €300 million, was declared bankrupt in London on December 30th, his last-known address being an apartment in the city's East End, according to papers published on the UK Insolvency Service website.
An applicant who has previously lived abroad can be made bankrupt in the United Kingdom if a court deems it to be the country where their "centre of main interests" lie, a term that refers to the location where the applicant runs a business or earns a living.
Seán Quinn, once Ireland's richest man, was made bankrupt under UK law in Belfast last year. However, the declaration is being challenged by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), formerly Anglo Irish Bank, which says Mr Quinn owes it €2.9 billion and claims his main interests are not in Northern Ireland.
Reuters