Developer brothers Ray and Danny Grehan have been given time to prepare their defence to an application by a National Asset Management Agency company for summary judgment orders of up to €270 million against them.
Mark Sanfey SC, for the brothers, told Mr Justice Peter Kelly yesterday the application had to be addressed in the context of the totality of the long-term relationship between Allied Irish Banks, his clients and their companies.
Counsel said he had sought documents in that regard, had got some but needed more.

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NAMA is facing recovering less than 60pc of the money lent by Irish banks to developers Ray and Danny Grehan for land and sites in the UK, an adminstrator's report discloses.
A group of Irish banks, including AIB, Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish, lent £167m for the UK assets, but the administrators' report from Grant Thornton claims the sites are now worth only £97m (€110m).
Based on these figures, it would mean NAMA recovering less than 60pc of the original sum advanced.
But it is not known what NAMA paid for the loans, so it is possible it could break even or make a small profit. UK loans tended to take smaller discounts than Irish loans, sources said.

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Mr Grehan said Nama would continue to pursue him for the full €650 million in property loans he owes even though the agency has removed his ability to repay his debts. “There is no future in today’s market in Ireland but there may be a future in 10 years’ time,” he told The Irish Times.

“But if you listen to Frank Daly [Nama chairman], it is not an option. He says that your debt will always be owed to the State.”

Mr Grehan was one of a number of contributors to Nama-land, a programme about the workings of the State agency broadcast by RTÉ’s Prime Time last night.

The developer said he was looking at his options but that there was no opportunity left for him in Ireland after Nama appointed receivers to his property assets in Ireland and the UK.

“They have taken the opportunity away from me to repay my borrowings. Therefore if I come back in five or six years’ time and I create a business in the UK or elsewhere in the world and I create wealth again, they can come after that as well,” said Mr Grehan.

“This is not an opportunity to start again – this is an opportunity to knock our lights out,” he said.

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“They have taken the opportunity away from me to repay my borrowings. Therefore if I come back in five or six years’ time and I create a business in the UK or elsewhere in the world and I create wealth again, they can come after that as well,” said Mr Grehan

Did it cross anyone else's mind that given the Grehan interview was before NAMA applied for orders against the brothers at Dublin's High Court that somehow NAMA got wind of what Ray had said and decided to act to formalise the debts owed by the brothers Grehan?

Did we not have a Debt = Wealth thread some years back ?

Anyone know how John Fleming is getting on with his own proceedings; isn't he due to be discharged in a month or so?

Last week in the Sunday Times Mark Tighe wrote a story about the brankruptcy filing of Cork developer John Fleming of Fleming construction. Mr Fleming moved to England, availing of bankruptcy laws there, leaving behind debts of over €1 billion. He is due to emerge from bankruptcy on November 10 this year, as under the British system, he and his wife can expect to be discharged from bankruptcy within 12 months, compared with up to 12 years under the Irish system.

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n application by NAMA have two companies controlled by developers Raymond and Daniel Grehan wound up has commenced before the High Court.

NAMA has petitioned the court to have a liquidator appointed to Glenkerrin Properties Ltd, and Glenroyal Leisure Ltd on grounds including that both firms are insolvent and that it would be in the best interests of the firm's creditors that the companies are wound up.

In proceedings before Mr Justice Roderick Murphy today lawyers acting for the companies are opposing NAMA's application, and argue that the court should not make orders placing firms into liquidation.

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Counsel said the company's directors Ray and Daniel Grehan who have addresses at Bateman's Row, Shoreditch, London and Princes Park Parade, Hayes Middlesex are each indebted to NAMA in sums exceeding €260m.

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has taken legal action against developer Ray Grehan in Canada to reverse the transfer of a €1.2 million property in Toronto which took place eight days after it won a €269.6 million judgment against him in Ireland.

This is the first time that Nama has taken legal proceedings outside Ireland or the UK against an Irish property developer in a bid to recover debts for the State.

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Nama fails to stop developer being paid €5,000 a week

THE NATIONAL Asset Management Agency has secured a worldwide freezing order in a UK court stopping developer Ray Grehan from selling any of his assets but has failed to stop him being paid €5,000 a week in living expenses.

The State loans agency successfully secured an order in the high court in London preventing Mr Grehan from selling assets, following legal actions in the US and Canadian courts to stop the sale or transfer of two apartments.

This is the first time Nama has secured a court order against a developer freezing any movement or sale of assets around the world.

The court approved the payment of living expenses of €5,000-a-week to Mr Grehan in the face of objections from Nama, which wanted them capped at €1,250. The judge said Nama could apply to have them reduced, which the agency now plans to do.

Mr Grehan had no comment on the latest court ruling against him.

Since securing a judgment of €269 million against him in Ireland courts last month, Nama has pursued Mr Grehan overseas to block the sale of foreign assets.

Nama secured a court order in London last month preventing the sale of a £5.6 million apartment in the luxury One Hyde Park development, which the agency says is beneficially owned by Mr Grehan.

The developer has told Nama that the property, which is owned by offshore companies, is held by a trust in favour of his family.

Nama secured a court injunction in Canada on November 29th stopping the transfer of his apartment at the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto to a firm called 2295661 Ontario Inc for no consideration.