Farmland of the Kinsella family in Co. Wexford was not auctioned off by a vulture fund today (Wednesday, September 14) as expected, following a recent public appeal to not bid on on the land.
It was feared that the family farm in Corlican, Killurin, Co. Wexford was going under the hammer without the family’s consent in an attempt to secure funds owed to Promontoria Aran Limited, a vulture fund, due to unpaid loans.
It is understood that the family now has 70 days to commence negotiations and reach an agreement on what had initially started with an Ulster Bank loan, which was purchased by a vulture fund over the years.
“Over the last ten years of dealing with this vulture fund, we never had any anything concrete. At least the auction is stopped, which is fantastic, now we have time to legally sit down and negotiate,” Paul Kinsella told Agriland. He continued:
“We have sold businesses and properties as part of agreements only to find that they re-engaged on agreements and demanded more. We have received hundreds of threatening phone calls, demanding letters, and had locks changed numerous times at nights – all when having negotiated deals.”
Last month, the family was told by friends that their lands and homestead was up for public auction on Wilson Auctions, which was initially due to take place today.
Paul’s father, Paddy Kinsella took out a loan with Ulster Bank in 2007 to purchase a retail premise and service station in Wexford, however the purchase caused difficulty for Paddy trying to pay the loan.
During several negotiations, Ulster Bank told Paddy that the loan was sold to Promontoria Aran Limited and negotiations had to restart with the new owner of the loan.
“We have sat down with many different vulture funds over the years and agreed terms only to be told that the loans were now sold to another vulture fund, and that we had to start discussions again,” Paul said.
Vulture fund
Around 2015, a receiver, Mazars, was appointed to recoup the loan and during years of negotiations, Paddy agreed to hand over the deeds of the purchased retail premise and service station against the debt.
In March 2021, a deal was reached to also hand over the deeds of a family member’s home, and it was agreed to sell the farmland to finalise the entire loan as paid.
Despite the land being agreed on principle to a local farmer, and correspondence in July 2021 from a representative of the receiver confirming in good faith that the deal was accepted, a month later the locks on all buildings were changed.
In October, legal deadlines and fees, which were “impossible to meet”, Paul said, were placed in order to close the deal with a new buyer. He continued:
“Up until now the agreement was on principle, my goal is to get the vulture fund to sit down and reach an agreement on paper and get the whole thing sorted and paid, this is all that we want to do.”
In February 2022, the family lodged a complaint to the financial ombudsman about the case, however they are still awaiting response.
“We just want to be treated fairly by the former Ulster Bank where we obtained the loans, and by the vulture funds who purchased our loans as part of a compiled loan book with other loans,” he said.