BORD GÁIS THEATRE SOLD IN €28m DEAL - Wealthy Dublin couple John and Bernie Gallagher, who made a fortune from the sale of Jurys Doyle hotels before the property crash, have acquired the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in the south Dublin Docklands, writes the Irish Times. The couple paid in the region of €28 million for what is Ireland’s largest theatre, outbidding Live Nation who run the venue, Denis Desmond’s MCD, the Ambassador Theatre Group in the UK, Dublin-based New Beginnings and several private investors. Agents CBRE, who handled the sale, said Crownway Entertainment - a division of Crownway Investments which is owned by the Gallaghers - had been selected as the preferred bidder for the theatre. The selling price is a long way short of the €80 million spent on developing and launching the venue in 2010. Earlier this summer Nama appointed receivers Grant Thornton to the theatre-owning company controlled by businessman Harry Crosbie. The original funding was provided by AIB. Mr Gallagher heads up the investment company Crownway which he controls with his wife, Bernie. She is a daughter of the late PV Doyle and with her two sisters, and the family of former chairman Walter Beatty, sold the Jurys Inn chain to Quinlan Private for €1.16 billion before the property crisis in 2005. The €288 million sale of the Burlington to Bernard McNamara brought to €950 million the family’s profit from the asset disposals that started with Jurys and the Berkeley Court to developer Seán Dunne in 2005.
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CREDIT UNION TIE-UP WITH POST OFFICES GIVES HOPE TO VILLAGES - Credit unions and post offices are forging an alliance which will help secure their futures and present a viable alternative to banks in local communities. The plan has the potential to revitalise both organisations and could breathe new life into smaller towns and villages around the country, says the Irish Independent. A trial in Limerick will see post offices and credit unions jointly offer small loans for the first time. The funds will be provided by credit unions with money available through post offices. If the initiative gets rolled out nationally, it will be the first step towards a stronger alliance, with plans for a wider pooling of services nationwide. The deal could lead to the possibility of credit unions taking over post offices in rural towns. Such a third force would help offset the effect on communities of bank branch closures, emigration and the closure of hundreds of pubs and shops that were once the heart of village life. An Post, the Irish League of Credit Unions and the Irish Postmasters' Union all said they were in favour of the coming together of credit unions and the State post office network to offer financial services. Such a move would counter the contraction of banks' branch networks, and provide a boost to credit unions and post offices, as both bodies are under pressure in rural areas.
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'MISSING' BAILOUT LETTER MAY BE RELEASED ECB - The ECB may release documents including a missing letter relating to Ireland’s bailout once the bank stress tests are finalised, according to a source. The bank will also investigate whether it could purchase the €50 billion worth of tracker mortgages from Irish banks as part of its asset-backed securities purchase scheme, says the Irish Examiner. However, they could be considered as more risky and the ECB could require the State to guarantee them against default - and that may not be an option. ECB president Mario Draghi said the bank’s governing council will consider this and the issue of whether the bank should give evidence to the bank inquiry. MEP Brian Hayes asked Mr Draghi for his opinion on what the ECB will do to facilitate the long-awaited inquiry, especially in light of his predecessor Jean Claude Trichet telling Irish media last year that he would not attend any such hearing. Mr Draghi said “I have no answer, I will reflect on this and will have to discuss this at the ECB governing council’s next meeting”. Two of three letters were leaked to the media that came from the ECB during the crisis, putting pressure on Ireland to accept a bailout. The third letter has not been made public.
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MILIBAND PLANS MANSION TAX TO BOOST NHS - Ed Miliband will announce plans on Tuesday to use a “mansion tax” to fund increased NHS spending in the UK, as he launches what he hopes will be Labour’s most totemic policy at the next general election. Mr Miliband believes voters will be attracted to the idea of using a tax on homes worth more than £2m to pay for improved health and social care - a policy combining “fairness” with a retail offer on the NHS, says the Financial Times. The policy will be the centrepiece of the Labour leader’s speech to party activists in Manchester, in which he will set out a plan to improve the lives of what he calls “everyday working people”. Labour officials say the proposed “mansion tax” would raise about £1.2 billion and confirmed that the money would be used to pay for improved “public services”, with health at the top of the list of priorities. The additional funding for the NHS would go some way towards filling what health service leaders have claimed will be a £2 billion hole in its finances by 2015, but remains small in the context of an English health budget of £113 billion.
