The High Court has refused to approve a rescue plan for house-building company McInerney Homes.
Mr Justice Frank Clarke gave his decision today but said he would not make his formal order until Friday to allow the company time to study his ruling.
The rescue plan, put forward by the examiner, Bill O Riordan of Price Waterhouse Coopers, involved a new investor paying €25m in full settlement of the €113m debt owed to three banks.
The banking syndicate had strenuously opposed the examinership and the rescue plan.
Mr Justice Clarke ruled that the plan - known as a scheme of arrangement - as proposed was unfairly prejudicial to the banks and therefore should be refused.
He said the banks had argued that they could do better if the companies went into a form of receivership.
The judge said that there were very significant differences between the expert evidence on behalf of the banks and the expert evidence on behalf of the company and the examiner.
But he said the banks had put forward a realistic and credible basis for their assertions, even though those assertions may be wrong.
The banks had argued that they could get €50m if the companies went into a form of receivership as opposed to the €25m being offered to them by the investor. McInerney Homes employs 100 people.
