The owners of the Waterside House Hotel in Donabate Co. Dublin and the Station House Hotel in Kilmessan, Co. Meath have sought examinership to regain control of the hotels.
In recent weeks receivers from PWC had been appointed to the hotels by the main lender KBC bank, to attempt to shore up its exposure to their main holding company Ebonwood.
The hotels' owners Chris and Thelma Slattery have sought the bankruptcy protection in the High Court to attempt to stop KBC from seizing control of the properties. The receivers have now been removed and an interim examiner has been appointed pending a full examinership hearing tomorrow.
If the examinership petition is successful the examiner will have 100 days to restructure the finances and find new investment. If the petition fails, the receivers will be reinstated and will seize control of the hotels. The bank is expected to strongly contest the petition.
The Slatterys have owned the hotels for quite some time; they purchased the Station House in 1981 and the Waterside in 2004. Both hotels are particularly popular for weddings and employ numerous people from the local communities.
