Hi °C | Lo °C Irish businessman Philip Marley has vowed to fight receivers granted an injunction preventing his company from acting as the manager of two student accommodation blocks in England.
Receivers appointed by NatWest to Bower Terrace Student Accommodation and Herbal Hill Studios had sought to prevent Mr Marley's Space Student Living (Space) firm from continuing to act as manager of the two associated properties.
The buildings include one in London that comprises 45 studio apartments and another in Maidstone, Kent, with 114 studios.
In 2003, Mr Marley founded Dublin-based Ely Property, which began focusing on student accommodation premises.
It listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in 2005. The business was sold to Dublin-listed Newcourt in 2006 and was then re-acquired by Mr Marley and other backers at the end of 2008 for a nominal sum.
More recently, he's been in Los Angeles, where he's been trying to develop a reality TV series.
Receivers were appointed to Bower Terrace and Herbal Hill by NatWest Bank in April. The bank is owed £6.4m in respect of Herbal Hill and £5.9m in respect of Bower Terrace.
Mr Marley insisted yesterday he had no equity or economic interest in those two companies, which list Ely Property as a shareholder.
Space Student Living has maintained it has a contract to manage the two properties.
The receivers have been attempting to take over the management of the two properties so that they can, it was claimed, be marketed on a more attractive basis to potential buyers.
"Space has been unwilling to hand over the management," London's High Court was told. That prompted the receivers to seek an injunction to force Space to hand over the management.
Space Student Living argued in court that it had a genuine and enforceable contract to manage the two properties.
It also insisted granting an injunction against it would affect the work and reputation of the firm. The judge granted the injunction to the receivers, however.
Speaking from the United States yesterday, Mr Marley claimed the injunction had been "set aside" until a full case was heard in September or October.
He claimed Space Student Living was continuing to manage the two properties and would "vigorously" defend itself.
He also said that he continued to seek to expand his business, and was looking at new opportunities.
