The High Court will decide tomorrow whether or not to appoint an examiner to four companies owned by the Galway businessman John Sweeney.
The court wound up Black Shore Holdings, the holding company owned by Mr Sweeney, on the application of Esso Ireland which was owed €12.3m.
However four companies in the group involved in service stations, hotels and property are now seeking court protection to allow a survival plan to be devised. The court heard they had banking difficulties due to over-borrowing within the group.
But Anglo Irish Bank, which is owed €55m in loans and guarantees, is opposing the application for examinership and says it wants to appoint a receiver to the companies.
Counsel for the bank Declan Murphy told the court that it had irretrievably lost trust in the Mr Sweeney.
The application to wind up Black Shore was not opposed by Mr Sweeney. Senior Counsel Michael Cush said it was a not a trading company as such but offered management services to other companies in the group.
Black Shore owns a company, which holds a one third investment in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin. It also has interests in Marriot and Holiday Inn hotels, property and oil businesses.
The four companies now seeking court protection include the Sweeney Oil group and Slyne properties which owns the Marriot Hotel and Spa in Galway as well as a car park business.
The court was told that expressions of interest had been received from six potential investors whose names are being kept confidential for the moment.
The court was also told that the hotel business and the service stations were inherently profitable while the spa and car park businesses were loss making. Slyne employs 119 people at peak times.
The interim examiner believed they had a reasonable prospect of survival but key to that survival would be a restructuring of bank debt.
In a sworn statement to the court, Mr Sweeney said he had devoted his whole life to the businesses. He said he was a non-smoker, non-drinker and a non-golfer and every resource he had had gone into the group.
He said he had borrowed personally and invested in the group and had taken a modest salary and lived a modest lifestyle. He also said he had made costs savings over the past year and a half and that staff had taken voluntary pay cuts and were willing to take further pay cuts to ensure the businesses survive.
Anglo Irish Bank, which is owed €55m in loans and cross company guarantees, is opposing Mr Sweeney's application for court protection.
The bank's lawyers told the court that the bank had 'irretrievably lost confidence' in Mr Sweeney and there had been an irretrievable breakdown in trust.
Counsel for the bank Declan Murphy said a survival plan for the companies was dependant on the ongoing support of the bank and that support was not forthcoming.
He said the proposals for the survival of the company, which were dependant on a re-financing, involved 'gymnastics and speculation' as to how Anglo might be dealt with and the level of detail was 'scant and aspirational' at best.
He said the involvement of investors was 'a de facto sale' of the businesses and there was no reason why a receiver could not carry out this function. He said jobs and the local economy were not threatened by the appointment of a receiver.
Mr Justice McGovern will give his decision tomorrow afternoon.
