NAMA appoints receiver to Moritz assets
property
NAMA has appointed a fixed-charge receiver to take control of the Galway Gateway Shopping Centre and a number of other assets controlled by developer Michael Whelan's Moritz Group.
The shopping centre in Knocknacarra opened in 2007 with Dunnes Stores and B&Q as anchor tenants. Undeveloped lands at Rathfarnham and Tallaght in Dublin, and in Celbridge and Tullamore were also placed into receivership.
The state's toxic debt agency has appointed property specialists HWBC Allsopp as fixed-charge receiver for the properties.
NAMA held fixed charges over the assets.
The properties are part of Michael Whelan's Moritz Group of property and investment companies. The group itself is not in receivership and did not respond to press queries yesterday.
Meanwhile, NAMA said it rejected claims by the head of Volkswagen in Ireland that the toxic debt agency frustrated Volkswagen Group's efforts to buy a site for a planned Audi showroom in Dublin.
Volkswagen's unhappiness with the State's bad bank emerged in an interview with managing director Simon Elliot in 'The Irish Times'.
He said NAMA had been slow to respond and uninterested in the efforts to buy the site.
A spokesman for NAMA said the site in question was controlled jointly by NAMA and a non-NAMA bank, understood to be Ulster Bank. Any sale would need joint agreement from the two lenders, he said.
Sources at NAMA said Volkswagen had only wanted to buy part of a site marketed for sale, and had dropped its offer price significantly during negotiations. Mr Elliot could not be reached for comment yesterday.
- Donal O'Donovan
Irish Independent
