Dunnes ordered to pay €20m to Ferrybank Shopping Centre developer

The High Court has ordered Dunnes Stores to pay €20.2 million to the company that built the Ferrybank Shopping Centre.

The supermarket chain had agreed to be the anchor tenant in the South Kilkenny centre, which was completed in August 2009.

Dunnes had claimed breaches of development by Holtglen Ltd, which for its part had counterclaimed for payment. An arbitrator upheld some of Dunnes’ complaints in October but found that Holtglen had addressed the matters and that Dunnes could not terminate the agreement.

Dunnes argued that Holtglen could not claim the money due because it is now insolvent, but the court found that because Holtglen’s loans to Bank of Ireland had been transferred to a NAMA company, this meant that its insolvency was not relevant.