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Fall of the house of Taggart: construction company calls in administrators
From Sunday Times Rich List to company collapse... the downturn in the construction industry claims its most high profile victims yet
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Northern Ireland’s construction industry was dealt a hammer blow yesterday as property development company Taggart Holdings called in the administrators.
Formerly one of Northern Ireland’s largest building companies, Belfast-based Taggart blamed its problems on the sharp slowdown in the property market.
The company, whose workforce has been cut from 150 to just 15 in the last 18 months, said administrators had been called in at the request of its bankers, Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland.
The company’s co-founder Michael Taggart described the move, which will affect more than 25 sites in Northern Ireland and the Republic, as “deeply regrettable”.
“This is a sign of the seriousness of the crisis now facing the construction and property sector on these islands,“ he said in a statement.
Eighteen months ago, before the credit crunch took hold, Taggart Holdings was a flourishing property company with a staff of more than 150.
Garth Calow and Rob Birchall from PricewaterhouseCoopers have been appointed as administrators.
Mr Calow said: “Faced with changing market conditions, the group has experienced a lengthy period of significant financial difficulty, causing uncertainty for both staff and creditors.
“These appointments will now enable an orderly sale of business and assets, including the company's development sites and land portfolio.
“Our immediate priority is to carry out a full assessment of the financial position and trading activities of the companies in the UK and in Ireland and to formulate an appropriate strategy for the way forward.”
A spokesman for PwC said the administrators began meetings with the Taggart board yesterday to establish how much is owed to the firm’s creditors. Neither of Taggart’s banks was prepared to comment on the level of the company’s debts.
Sources indicate Taggart’s debt pile could amount to as much as £150m.
A number of the construction company’s sites in the Republic have also been placed in receivership, although the directors will continue to develop schemes in Mullingar, Navan and Luxembourg.
PwC will act as receivers for Taggart Homes Ireland and Taggart’s other Irish-registered companies.
Founded in Londonderry in 1989 by brothers Michael and John Taggart, the company was initially a building contractor in Northern Ireland. It expanded to include construction and development in Ireland, the UK, Eastern Europe and the US.
Michael Taggart became a well known figure in the Northern Ireland business community, famed for travelling by helicopter from Derry to Belfast for meetings. Last year he hired singers Lionel Richie and Van Morrison to play at his wedding.
In the past two years, the brothers found themselves featured in the Sunday Times Rich List in Ireland.
The company had experienced rapid growth through the recent property boom and was still buying large areas of land at the height of the market.
In 2006, in partnership with the private client arm of Goodbody Stockbrokers, it acquired Northern Ireland property company Fraser Estates for €150m and Cecil M.Yuill, one of the leading house building companies in North East England, for £60m.
However, the slowdown in the property market has seen the company lay off staff and attempt to restructure the business in the past year
Last month an attempt by Taggart to sell a 50% stake in its business to multi-millionaire Irish builder John McCann collapsed.
That deal was expected to involve an investment in excess of €100m based on an estimated value of Taggart Holdings’ land bank of £500m.
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What should it matter to the Northern Irish public what happened at Mr Taggarts wedding. He was a businessman who earned a very good salary - at the end of the day thats his money to play with. And it's sad what has happened to their company.
You are just all jealous of other peoples success when you couldn't be assed to get up and do an honest days work yourselves.
Posted by Bothered | 05.11.08, 07:16 GMT
it is the banks that have to blame for all of this because they were the ones who handed out the big sum of money to companies, and to other people as well to buy houses, land etc. I do feel sorry for the taggart brothers. For the people who are gland that this handed to a big company like this is just jealous of what the taggart brothers have gained over the years of hard work. I wish them the best in the future. they started of as a small company and over the years they have become a massive business.
Posted by Gemma | 27.10.08, 13:59 GMT
typical , when all is going well for our business leaders, we're pretending to be proud about of our move from our sad and deeply troubled past towards a new prosperous age. of course, in reality we despise their eagerness to act as role models.
Bitterness and jealousy are terrible afflictions that really make us all sad victims in the end !!
These entrepreneurs deserve credit for what they have achieved, probably from humble beginnings.
I suspect it wasn't all helicopter rides and rock concerts !! but plenty of extremely stressful long nights.
Please recognise that despite the small minded resentfulness, we do need business leaders with a clear vision !!
Posted by Working Class - Belfast | 24.10.08, 21:02 GMT
Its a real shame for the workers. Property developers have completely screwed buyers for years here. How many times has someone got a deposit on a new build at an agreed price only to be told by the developer, "sorry, price is up another £50k, take it or leave it". Slap it into the developers - just a shame they are taking decent workers and home buyers down with them.
Posted by Jon | 22.10.08, 23:28 GMT
Addiction to greed.The bankers.accountants,lawyers and businessmen have contributed to the financial system as we know it. Joe public and his weary massess shall pay handsomely once again. No doubt the biggest creditor will be the taxman, paye/income tax,subcontractor tax ,corporation tax. Just goes to show the king was wearing no clothes after all.
Pity those who bought in the last few years.
Posted by No fool | 22.10.08, 21:12 GMT
Looks like he will be hiring one of those Romainian accordian women for any future gala events.
Posted by Andy | 22.10.08, 15:40 GMT
i feel for the workers. the taggarts are not going to suffer. the workers will
Posted by ray .. usa | 22.10.08, 15:27 GMT
Sad to say, lots of people who bought houses last year will be paying for their mistake for a lot longer. Probably 24 years in fact.
Posted by maggie | 22.10.08, 12:27 GMT
No More Lionel Richie, Van Morrison or helicopter rides then
Posted by Garry | 22.10.08, 12:06 GMT
A good friend of mine had a construction business albeit not quite the scale of these guys starting around the time these guys set up just before the market started to surge in England in the mid- late 90's. He made a very tidy sum to say the least but consolidated and started to wind down years ago, still whilst property prices were going up, because of the simple fact that this was going to happen at some point soon. Yes he could have made even more over the last few years but now he is sitting rather pretty and is basically retired at 45. he always said he will start up again, with plenty of capital, when the next bust came and went and see if the general conditions had changed. house prices in the Uk on average over the last 50 years have risen by just under 10%pa so housing is still pretty good investment despite the ups and downs.
Posted by soarer | 22.10.08, 12:01 GMT
Travelling by helicopter to Belfast for meetings.
Hiring Lionel Ritchie for his Wedding.
And now the business is being wound-up.
And all because house prices never fall - you can't go wrong with bricks and mortar...
Posted by bobby d'hofter | 22.10.08, 11:34 GMT
"Last year [Michael Taggart] hired singers Lionel Richie and Van Morrison to play at his wedding."
Says it all really. <
Posted by Dave | 22.10.08, 10:15 GMT
As a first time buyer in waiting, I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for the plight of any of the vested interests in the property market - be they construction companies, estate agents or banks. What did they expect when house prices went to 12 times average wages? These people were more than happy to have people like me priced out of the market as they raked in the cash during the unsustainable boom, failing to realise that exponential increases almost always lead to equally spectacular crashes. What goes around......
Posted by Crash-and-Burn | 22.10.08, 02:40 GMT