a day ago
Israeli businessman buys Ukrainian property formerly owned by Seán Quinn
A shopping centre and an office development in Kyiv formerly owned by businessman
Seán Quinn
have been sold by the
Irish Bank Resolution Corporation
(IBRC) to an Israeli businessman with operations in Ukraine.
The properties – the Leonardo business centre and the Ukraina shopping centre – were sold for a price between €40 million and €50 million, substantially below the €70 million to €80 million they were worth when the IBRC first got legal control over the assets, according to sources.
The sale, to Ofer Kerzner's City Capital Group (CCG) group, comes 14 years after Mr Quinn's assets were seized by
Anglo Irish Bank
after a disastrous contracts for difference investment by him in the bank's shares.
After Anglo was subsumed into the State-owned IBRC, the bank engaged in a hugely expensive multi-jurisdictional battle with Mr Quinn and his family to assert its control over an international property portfolio that included the Ukrainian assets.
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The Quinns, using offshore companies and a series of court actions in jurisdictions around the world, sought to frustrate the bank, creating a situation that was estimated to have cost the State up to €170 million in legal fees, lost rental income, and other costs. During the battle, both Mr Quinn and Seán Quinn jnr were jailed for contempt of court.
[
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The IBRC's efforts to assert control over the assets at one stage involved a deal with a Russian financial conglomerate, the
Alfa Group
, owned by a number of Russian oligarchs.
Eventually the battle between the Quinns and the IBRC was settled. However, by then the
developing tensions with Russia had affected property prices in Ukraine
. The deal with the Alfa Group was unwound and the properties continued to be managed on the IBRC's behalf after the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
.
Mr Kerzner is an Israeli citizen who has been doing business since 1998 in Ukraine, where his City Capital Group has an extensive property portfolio. One source said the price paid by City Capital is a very good one from its point of view, but involves a substantial risk given the ongoing war with Russia.
