Boundary Capital cancels listings

By Brian O’Mahony

Saturday, July 31, 2010

BOUNDARY Capital is to cancel its listing on the Dublin and London stock exchanges because it says it is too expensive to maintain them.

The Dublin-based firm is also seeking shareholder approval to change its name to Fleming Capital.

In a statement yesterday the group said it still has not agreed an extension of its facility with Anglo Irish Bank, to whom it owes €39 million.

The collapse of Arnotts this week with debts of over €200m has left Boundary’s financial position significantly weakened. Earlier this year the investment group warned that its stake in Arnotts was likely to be worthless.

The group became a key player in the planned development in Arnotts when it teamed up with Anglo Irish Bank to make a joint €65m investment in the firm. That gave the two a 45% stake in the department store group.

The investment followed the O’Connor family decision to sell its 24.75% stake in Arnotts following a high-profile boardroom dispute with the family which resulted in the Nesbitts paying €40m for the holding.

The row came to a head in May 2006 when it emerged the O’Connors were preparing to offer to buy the group for a reported figure of €200m.

Following the sale, Arnotts put in place ambitious new plans to develop what was termed the Northern Quarter that was to stretch to O’Connell Street to become a dominant feature of the capital’s main street.

This plan was costed at €750m and included the redevelopment of a 5.5-acre block. Arnotts collapse has left Boundary’s financial position significantly weakened.

It owes Anglo Irish Bank more than €39m and is in talks with the bank.

Boundary is also proposing a change of name to Fleming Capital after agreeing with former chairman Niall McFadden that he would retain the Boundary name.

In late June, the group reported a pre-tax loss of €54.7m for last year, against a loss of €2.7m a year earlier, due to a fall in the value of its investments.

Its investments in Arnotts, CJ Fallon and ODC accounted for €35m of the investment losses, while revaluations of its stakes in quoted companies Veris and SiteServ led to a loss of over €6m, the company said at the time.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, July 31, 2010