Liam Carroll (businessman)

For other people named Liam Carroll (businessman), see Liam Carroll (businessman) (disambiguation).

Liam Carroll's Zoe Developments group, Ireland, became well known during the Celtic Tiger years of 1990s and the subsequent property bubble of 2000-2007 for residential and commercial property construction projects. Carroll is known in business circles for his legendary thriftiness and is considered a deeply private man who never gives interviews. His wealth was estimated for a time to be in excess of €1 Billion. He later became one of Ireland's leading corporate raiders and held large stakes in many public companies for a time (Irish Continental Group, Greencore, FBD Holdings, Jurys Doyle & McInerney Holdings)

In 2000, he started building a stake in listed property developer Dunloe - Ewart. In 2002 he completed his takeover of the company through his investment vehicle Rambridge Ltd for €196.5 million.

Zoe group companies became unable to repay bank borrowings of a reported €1.3bn and in summer 2009 requested Examinership as protection from creditors, particularly ACCBank who were the first to seek liquidation of some of his companies. Following a series of cases, this was rejected by both the High Court and the Supreme Court of Ireland with the rescue plan described by a judge as bordering, if not trespassing on the fanciful and the appointment of liquidators to group companies was confirmed by the courts on 14 October 2009.

Caroll also controls two other large development groups - Dunloe and Orthanc. Orthanc is insolvent while Dunloe is managing to service most of its debts. His total liabilities are estimated to be €2.8 billion.