A FATHER and three sons who run one of the largest property businesses in the State transferred their shareholdings to their wives in 2008, according to filings in the Companies Registration Office.

Development and investment business Alanis Capital was involved with a range of high-profile property deals in Ireland and the UK during the boom years.

According to its website, Alanis Capital was involved with Carton House in Co Kildare, the Square in Tallaght, Clarion Quay in the IFSC, Dublin and the Royal Exchange Building in London.

The latter investment was made in conjunction with Anglo Irish Bank, as was an investment in the Metquarter shopping centre in Liverpool.

John McCormack and his sons Alan, Brian and Niall are involved in a personal capacity in a number of property partnerships with other property developers and investors such as Paddy Kelly, David Arnold, Lar Bradshaw and Derek Quinlan.

The partnerships they are involved with have been funded by Anglo Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland and other Irish bankers. They are part of the Nollaig Partnership that was behind the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin and which includes the former chairman of AIB, Dermot Gleeson SC.

Filings for Alanis Capital Ltd show the brothers Alan, Brian and Niall transferred their shares to their wives in May 2008.

Their father transferred his shareholding to his wife Breeda on the same date, as did another shareholder, Marcus Ryan, who transferred his shareholding to Patricia Ryan.

Mr Ryan is a former associate director with Anglo who joined Alanis Capital in 2006.

John McCormack transferred his shareholding in Alanis Ltd, a company that holds shares in Alanis Capital, to his wife in November 2008. Mr McCormack founded Alanis in 1985.

The shares in Parsinna Ltd, another holding company in the McCormack business, were transferred in May 2008 from Alan McCormack and onwards to his wife and the wives of his father and two brothers, according to the company’s latest annual return.

Likewise, half the issued shares in the unlimited company Panoramic Investments were transferred by the McCormacks to their wives in November 2008, according to company filings. The remainder of the company is owned by Bernard Duffy of the TBD property group.

There was no response to a request for comment from Alanis Capital yesterday, and the reason for the share transfers is not known.

Filings to a number of companies with which the McCormacks are involved, including Alanis Ltd and Alanis Capital, show forms associated with companies that do not have a director who is resident in the State were registered last year.

The B67 forms are accompanied by short letters from the Revenue Commissioners confirming that the companies have a “real and continuous link with one or more economic activities” in the State.

Such letters are issued by the Revenue upon request, a Revenue spokesman said. They allow companies that do not have an Irish-registered director avoid having to take out a bond, he said.

The latest annual return for Alanis Capital shows its directors as being John, Alan, Brian and Niall McCormack, as well as Mr Ryan.

John McCormack, who has an address in Donnybrook, Dublin, registered a dealing concerning the property between himself and his wife in December 2008.

Brian McCormack registered a dealing between himself and his wife over their Monkstown, Co Dublin home in the same month.