Bill Cullen is hoping to strike deal over €8m debt
BILL Cullen is still fighting to avoid going bankrupt and hopes to strike a deal with the bank that’s been pursuing him over an alleged €8.1million debt in the coming weeks, the Irish Daily Mail has learned.
The former Apprentice boss, who has been suffering from ill health, has been fighting attempts by Danish-owned Danske Bank to have him declared bankrupt since last July, when he was first issued with a ‘final demand’ for the millions.
He had been granted until a week before Christmas to either stop the bank in its tracks – by striking a deal over his debts – or agree to go bankrupt. But when the case came before Judge Caroline Costello on December 18 – for the fifth time since last July – barrister Rory White, for the bank, explained that negotiations ‘with a view to an overall resolution’ of the dispute were ongoing, the Mail can reveal.
Mr White asked for a postponement until February to allow out-of-court talks to continue, which the judge agreed to.
Neither Mr Cullen, 75, nor his partner Jackie Lavin were in court, but their barrister Keith Farry attended the brief hearing.
As was exclusively revealed by the Mail, Mr Cullen was first presented with a bankruptcy summons last July – effectively a final payment demand with a 14-day deadline – and he was brought before the bankruptcy court when he didn’t pay. Each time his case goes before that court, he’s at risk of being declared bankrupt.
Last month, Mr White told Judge Costello that both sides ‘have engaged and the engagement is continuing with a view to an overall resolution,’ adding: ‘It won’t need to trouble the court in the meantime.’
Mr Cullen is currently trying to strike a debt repayment deal with the bank through a Personal Insolvency Practitioner – the alternative to bankruptcy. But when the case comes before the court again next month, Mr Cullen could be declared bankrupt at that stage unless an out-of-court deal has been struck.
The former Apprentice entrepreneur has been pursued through the courts by Danske Bank since 2012 over loans advanced to him in April 2011 with a 12-month repayment deadline. Last July, the bank moved to have him declared bankrupt for the first time.
Mr Cullen, who previously told a court that his ‘health and relationships have suffered greatly’ due to his financial stresses, lost control of his long-held Renault dealerships to bank-appointed receivers in October 2012.
Then, in April 2013, his five-star Muckross Park Hotel in Co. Kerry was taken by a bank.