THE LENDER formerly known as Bank of Scotland (Ireland) has appointed a receiver to building company P Elliott, taking control of the firm’s head office in Cavan over debts of about €20 million.

Accountant Paul McCann of Grant Thornton was appointed by the former Bank of Scotland (Ireland), the business of which is now being wound down by Certus, a company led by the bank’s former management team.

Bank of Scotland plc is the second bank to install a receiver to the Cavan company following the appointment of KPMG accountants Kieran Wallace and Cormac O’Connor as receivers by Ulster Bank in May. The receivers appointed by different banks will take control over the various properties against which the banks hold charges and they will collect rents and appoint agents to sell the properties to recoup the debts.

The Elliott group, whose lenders also include the National Asset Management Agency and ACC Bank, was one of the prolific players during the property boom as a contractor and a developer.

The firm employed more than 200 people in recent years but laid off most of its staff in the first half of this year after managing to stay in business for some time after the collapse in the property market.

A number of subcontracting companies had sought to wind up P Elliott and Co earlier this year to recover debts before the receivers were appointed in May.

Mr McCann has been managing some Elliott group properties for Bank of Scotland but was appointed receiver by the bank on December 16th to take formal control over certain assets. He is also receiver to some of the group’s industrial units and apartments.

Among the properties developed by P Elliott and Co was the head office of Mr McCann’s accountancy firm, Grant Thornton, on City Quay in Dublin, and the former Irish Times building on D’Olier Street.

It held contracts to build the Enniskillen Hospital in Co Fermanagh, an athlete’s village for the Olympic Games in London and a graduate school of medicine for the University of Limerick.