Anglo Irish Bank
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FitzPatrick faces bankruptcy as creditors consider debt plan
29.06.2010
The creditors of the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Sean FitzPatrick are due to meet in private sometime over the coming weeks to decide whether to accept an offer he is making to settle his debts, the High Court heard yesterday...
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Anglo to tell creditors of FitzPatrick's financial ruin
FORMER Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick is set to be effectively declared bankrupt today by his former employers at a crucial meeting with creditors.
Those planning to attend the meeting said that neither the positions of Mr FitzPatrick nor the bank had changed in the past few days.
Mr FitzPatrick owes the bank €110m but is seeking to repay this via a private deal (or scheme of arrangements) with Anglo and the other banks.
But Anglo will today restate its opposition to this and press for Mr FitzPatrick to be declared fully bankrupt at a High Court hearing on Monday, which will give the official seal to the outcome of today's meeting.
The final decision on Mr FitzPatrick's fate will rest with the High Court.
The other banks attending today's meeting are Friends First, Bank of Scotland (Ireland), Ulster Bank, AIB, First Active and Haven Bank. The Revenue Commissioners will also have representatives there.
Negotiations
The meeting brings to an end a long series of negotiations between Mr FitzPatrick and Anglo that began just days after the institution was nationalised in January 2009.
Since then, Somers and Associates have been representing Mr FitzPatrick in negotiations with the bank. These talks have often been stormy, with much dispute around the value and security on a Nigerian oil well known as the Ekeh field.
This is Mr FitzPatrick's chief asset, with former Anglo director Lar Bradshaw also owning a stake in the field. At today's meeting, Mr FitzPatrick's representatives are expected to press the bank on the kind of security they have over this asset. But the bank is confident its security is watertight.
In June, a senior executive of the bank, Tom Hunersen, signalled that the bank was seeking to have Mr FitzPatrick "adjudicated bankrupt'' and this motion is what will be heard on Monday. Today's meeting simply records whether there is support or not for the arrangement, which will not be forthcoming.
Once declared bankrupt, Mr FitzPatrick's assets can be seized by his creditors and sold off to reduce his debts. Among the assets is Mr FitzPatrick's home in Greystones, Co Wicklow, but also his pension built up over many years at the bank.
But the bank has given assurances that it will not pursue members of his family, even though some of the loans were taken out by Mr FitzPatrick's children. In fact, the bank refers to the €110m loans as "FitzPatrick family facilities''.