Businessman Larry Goodman has booked an unrealised surplus of more than €37 million after three of his investment properties in central Dublin were revalued.
The properties concerned are the Setanta Centre in Nassau Street, buildings at 4-5 Harcourt Road and buildings at 76-78 Harcourt Street.
Mr Goodman receives annual rents of €3.22 million from the Government under five 35-year leases agreed in 1976-1978 and a 16-year lease agreed in 1995 for the use of the Setanta Centre building. He also receives annual rents of €1.19 million from the Government for the lease of 4-5 Harcourt Road under a 35-year lease agreed in 1980.
Accounts recently filed for the companies which manage these investment properties for Mr Goodman show that they were revalued during 2004. "The assets were revalued in accordance to reflect their market value in accordance with good accounting practice and not for the purpose of raising funds or any other purpose," said a spokesman for Mr Goodman.
The Setanta Centre building is owned by Mr Goodman's company Reverie Ltd. According to a note in the accounts for the nine-month period to December 31st 2004, a revaluation "to an open market value reflecting existing use" on March 31st 2004 gave rise to a surplus of €19.76 million.
At the end of 2004, the property had a value of €109 million in the Reverie Ltd books.
The latest accounts for another Goodman-owned company, Halfpipe Ltd, show that two revaluations were carried out last year on the Harcourt Road property. A revaluation on March 31st gave rise to a surplus of €6.04 million and a further revaluation at the end of December gave rise to a surplus of €7 million. Following this revaluation, the Harcourt Road property had a book value of €29.8 million.
Mr Goodman's company Hazeldale Ltd owns the Harcourt Street property. According to its accounts for the nine months to December 31st 2004, a revaluation surplus of €4.74 million was recorded after this property was revalued on March 31st, 2004.
This property was valued in the books at €16.8 million at the end of last year while Hazeldale also had an interest in freehold land worth €3.95 million.
It was revealed last August that Hazeldale realised €11.23 million from the sale of its one-third share of a 90-acre parcel of land at Leixlip, Co Kildare, when the property was sold to Albany Homes. A Lucan-based couple, Brendan and Deborah Delaney, also realised €11.23 million from their one-third interest.
