Liam Carroll

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^[1] 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.^[2]

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.

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