JOHNNY RONAN, the property developer and co-owner of Treasury Holdings, is to take a break from his business activities “for the next few months”, according to a short statement issued yesterday on his behalf by Murray Consultants.
The statement said: “Johnny Ronan is to take a break from his business activities for the next few months arising from the recent high profile media coverage of aspects of his personal life which he believes has the potential to distract attention from his business interests.
“His decision will not affect the day to day operation of Treasury Holdings, of which he is a director and shareholder, and which has operated under a management team and board of directors headed by managing director John Bruder for the past five years. His own personal business interests will continue to be managed by their entirely separate management team.”
Ronan is not going to step down from the boards of the 270-plus companies where he serves as a director. These include Treasury Holdings, whose bank loans are scheduled to be moved into the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) later this month.
No stranger to the social columns, he has been the focus of extensive media coverage of a confrontation with a former girlfriend, former model and TV3 celebrity show presenter Glenda Gilson, outside a pub in Ranelagh, Dublin, a couple of weeks ago.
This was followed the next day by a long lunch at the Ritz-Carlton hotel near his home in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, during which he summoned a private aircraft to fly himself, Rosanna Davison (25) – a model and former Miss World – and a college friend of hers to Morocco.
Much of the negative commentary surrounding the trip centred on the fact that Treasury Holdings, a major property firm owned jointly by Mr Ronan and Richard Barrett, with close to €2 billion in assets on its books, is expected to be among the first tranche of companies to have its loans moved to Nama.
The statement issued yesterday is understood to be the result of concerns that the behaviour of Mr Ronan could affect the attitude of Treasury’s bankers and Nama, in relation to the provision of further finance to Treasury.
Among the developments with which Treasury has a connection is the multibillion-euro Battersea power station project in London. Loans associated with this project are expected to be moved to Nama.
A source close to him said the private aircraft he used to fly to Morocco is owned by one of Mr Ronan’s private companies and that none of the expenses incurred in his trip with Ms Davison concerned Treasury. He also said Mr Ronan and Treasury expected to meet all their bank debts.
His own personal interests, the statement added, “will continue to be managed by their entirely separate management team”.
Mr Ronan owns a substantial range of assets by way of his family company, Ardquade, including the Treasury Building on Grand Canal Street, Dublin, where Nama is a tenant. He is on the board of Treasury, the Spencer Dock Development Company and Ardquade, among many other companies.