{"id":305129,"date":"2026-02-19T00:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/305129\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T00:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:24:10","slug":"judge-refuses-to-appoint-examiner-over-st-stephens-green-office-developer-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/305129\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge refuses to appoint examiner over St Stephen\u2019s Green office developer \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Circuit Court<\/a> judge has refused to confirm the appointment of an examiner over three companies tied to KC Capital Property Group.<\/p>\n

The developer is appealing the decision in the High Court. That will be heard next week.<\/p>\n

KC Capital is behind a nine-storey office block on Cuffe Street beside St Stephen\u2019s Green, known as the Greenside Building, with the court hearing it has built up debts in excess of \u20ac55 million in the construction phase but just two months of work remain.<\/p>\n

David Kennan\u2018s KC Capital Property Group Ltd, as well as two group companies, sought to have Damien Harper of PUC Consultants appointed as interim examiner in late December. The appointment came days after receivers were placed over the company by its lenders.<\/p>\n

An independent expert report by Myles Kirby of consultancy Kroll advised the court the companies have a reasonable expectation of survival. The examiner\u2019s appointment was due to be confirmed by the Circuit Court in January, but was opposed by its secured creditor.<\/p>\n

The developer is also involved in a legal dispute over the supply of allegedly defective concrete by one of its suppliers, Keegan Quarries Limited, from which the companies hope to recover approximately \u20ac15 million.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Mr Justice John O\u2019Connor of the Circuit Court refused to appoint the examiner.<\/p>\n

In his judgement, the judge said the case is a \u201cstraight contest\u201d between KC Capital and its lenders. Its investors are \u201ctrying to rescue their shareholding\u201d while involved in litigation \u201cthey think they will win\u201d and the secured creditor is \u201ctrying to maximise its security now, noting the risks involved\u201d. He noted that no substantial creditors are supporting the petition for examinership.<\/p>\n

The judge said an examinership would not be in the best interests of the creditors, characterising it as an \u201cunnecessary costly exercise\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear in my view there will be no additional jobs saved in the appointment of an examiner. In simple terms it is not necessary to appoint an examiner,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The developers gave notice of their intention to appeal the case.<\/p>\n

Before Mr Justice Michael Twomey of the High Court, barrister Ciaran Lewis \u2013 acting for KC Capital and advised by Simon Murphy of Beauchamps \u2013 appealed for a stay on the order to discharge the examiner over the company.<\/p>\n

He argued that it is \u201cimportant that the protection of the court\u201d remain in place until the appeal is heard. He said the examiner would agree to do nothing until a decision on the matter has taken place.<\/p>\n

Barrister Brian Kennedy, representing the secured creditor, a Fairfield Real Estate Finance fund, said his client was owed \u20ac55 million, and was \u201cdeeply sceptical\u201d of purported investment offers for the asset security. He said that offers are \u201cnowhere near the value\u201d of either the security or the amount his client is owed.<\/p>\n

He said that Fairfield, as a secured creditor, is bearing the cost of the examinership. Mr Kennedy said that KC Capital has \u201cno business in operation\u201d and is \u201ceffectively an SPV\u201d [special-purpose vehicle] designed to build out the office block. The appointment of the examiner is \u201creally about saving shareholders funds\u201d, Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

The judge ruled that the interim examiner will be allowed to make submissions in a \u201cvery limited role\u201d to the court but no other work is permitted in an effort minimise costs to the secured lender. The period of court protection will also continue until the appeal is heard.<\/p>\n

The case is scheduled to resume on February 25th. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Circuit Court judge has refused to confirm the appointment of an examiner over three companies tied to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,13553,73,61,60,45546],"class_list":["post-305129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-circuit-court","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-st-stephen-s-green"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}