A significant number of new shares in property developer Mr John Byrne's Carlisle group have been issued to a new shareholder, according to documents filed recently. Mr Byrne and his companies featured prominently in the Ansbacher inspectors' report.
An examination of the Carlisle group's recently-filed accounts shows that its investment properties were valued at €181.6 million at the end of 2002. Bank loans from Bank of Ireland and IIB Bank totalled €46.2 million.
According to the accounts, investment properties are valued by the directors each year on an open market basis and any increase since the previous year is taken to the revaluation reserve. The accumulated revaluation reserve for the holding company, Carlisle Trust Ltd, and three of its group companies, was €112.6 million.
Mr Byrne has been building up his group since the 1960s. He is a leading supplier of office space to the public sector.
The new shares in Carlisle constitute more than half the issued share capital though they do not give a right to vote at ordinary general meetings. Also the shares appear to have a less assured entitlement to dividends than the other classes of shares as well as having little rights in the event of a winding up. The reason for issuing the shares is not clear.
The directors of Carlisle and holders of its 10 issued A, voting shares, are Mr Byrne (83), who holds one share, and his wife, Ms Ciara Byrne (62), who holds nine.
Carlisle Trust Ltd issued 1,134 C ordinary shares to Santenay Ltd, of 48 Drumcondra Road, Dublin 9, for €1,417.50. Santenay is in turn owned by Claraduff Society Ltd, of the same address, but no records for this company could be found in the Companies Registration Office. The directors of Santenay are Mr Byrne and accountant Mr Patrick McCann, of Management & Investment Services, 48 Drumcondra Road. Santenay was established recently.
Carlisle Trust Ltd is in turn owned by a Cayman Islands company, Prospect Holdings, which is in turn owned by a Cayman Islands trust. Mr Byrne is currently contesting a finding of the Ansbacher inspectors that the Cayman trust was in fact controlled by him. The case has yet to come to court. Carlisle's 1,134 issued B shares are held by Ansbacher Cayman Ltd, the bank providing trustees to the controlling Cayman trust.
Operating profits for Carlisle or its subsidiaries are not given in the accounts. Carlisle reported a modest increase in its profit and loss account during 2002. The value of its investment properties rose from €46.6 million to €52.8 million.
Carlisle's 100 per cent owned subsidiaries include Smithfield Property Development Ltd, Alstead Securities, and Dublin City Estates Ltd.
The profit and loss account for Smithfield Property Development Ltd rose by slightly more than €2 million during 2002 and the value of its investment properties increased by €5 million to €38 million. The profit and loss account for Alstead Securities increased by about €800,000 during the year and the value of its investment properties rose by €5.4 million to €72.8 million.
