O'Reilly faces prospect of forced asset sale

Sir Anthony O'Reilly, the former media tycoon and Ireland's first billionaire, faces the prospect of a forced sale of his assets after a court ruled on Friday that Allied Irish Banks could enforce a judgment against him for a personal debt of €22.6m

The ruling marks a low point in the long and flamboyant business career of the former chairman and chief executive of Heinz, the baked beans company. Earlier this week Allied Irish Banks, one of a group of creditors to which he owes €195m, told the court that Sir Anthony was insolvent.

Friday's decision by the Commercial Court in Dublin allows AIB to enforce a judgment in its favour for recovery of the debt. The bank argued that failure to do so would prejudice its position as a creditor. Sir Anthony's lawyers argued that a forced sale would have "enormous consequences" for the value of his unencumbered assets.

The main asset likely to come up for sale is Castlemartin, a 700-acre stud farm in County Kildare where Sir Anthony, who is 78, used to entertain politicians and celebrities during his visits to Ireland. The farm contains a church and graveyard where his parents and two of his grandchildren are buried.

Among his other assets are a holiday home in the resort of Glandore in County Cork, a 15 per cent stake in Providence Resources, an oil and gas exploration company run by his son Tony O'Reilly Jr, and assets in the Caribbean.

Sir Anthony, who lives in France with his wife, the Greek shipping heiress Chryss Goulandris, could not be contacted yesterday. Former associates, speaking privately, said they were not surprised at the court ruling, but expressed sadness at the downfall of a pioneering businessman.

"I think there will be genuine sadness and shock out there at this ignominious fall," one said. He said any sale of Castlemartin, which dates from the 1720s and which Sir Anthony bought semi-derelict in the 1970s, would be especially painful.

His knighthood was awarded in 2001 for services to Northern Ireland - Mr O'Reilly is a founder of the philanthropic Ireland Funds - and was accepted with the approval of the Irish government.

Sir Anthony's financial problems date from the global financial crisis, when his heavily indebted investments began to fail. He lost control of Independent News & Media, Ireland's biggest owner of newspapers. But it was his struggle to turn around the fortunes of Waterford Wedgwood that did the most damage.

His battle to save the luxury glass and china maker cost him and his family an estimated €400m; it is now worth a fraction of that and is owned by private equity investors.

Sir Anthony has already, under pressure from his creditors, sold personal assets, including a mansion in Fitzwilliam Square in central Dublin. He also owned substantial stakes in smart grid maker Landis+Gyr, acquired by Toshiba for $2.3bn in 2011, and Heinz, which was bought by Warren Buffett for $28bn last year.

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