Collapsed car firm has debts of €38m

A LIQUIDATOR has been appointed to the collapsed Tom Hogan Motor Group which closed its doors last month, with the loss of around 100 jobs in Galway and debts of around €38million.Despite the major blow to the previously hugely successful company – it had a turnover of around €100m – the liquidator believes that it may be possible to re-start parts of the business which have proven viable and for some workers to be reemployed. And employees who are owed wages and have fears over redundancy packages are to be given top priority by the liquidator . Three creditors’ meetings were held in Ennis on Monday following the decision of the company’s directors to go into voluntary liquidation. Under company law, the directors of the company had to present a statement of affairs, which included a list of creditors and the amounts they are owed.According to that statement, the Tom Hogan Motor Group – the main company – owes around €18m to creditors and has bank indebtedness of around €16m. Tom Hogan Motors Oranmore, which operates the BMW franchise, has debts of around €3m, while a third company, Corporate Fleet Management, which operated a fleet service, owes several hundred thousand euro.Gearóid Costelloe, a chartered accountant at the Limerick office of Grant Thornton, was appointed liquidator to the three companies at the meetings.He told the Connacht Tribune that the creditors meeting was...