Former Anglo Irish boss Sean Fitzpatrick faces a court ruling declaring him bankrupt within days, according to sources.
At a meeting in his Dublin office, Fitzpatrick offered his sincere apologies to his creditors who are losing hope of ever reclaiming their money.
Fitzpatrick explained that his wealth was largely based on the financial bubble, and when it burst and share prices in major banking stocks plummeted, so did his personal wealth.
The meeting was held to hear details of a proposed scheme of arrangement which would give him time to repay creditors some of their debts as his assets are sold in an orderly basis over time.
Fitzpatrick owns the now State-owned Anglo Irish over €110 million which is now blocking the proposed scheme. The result is likely to be that the fallen tycoon will be forced into bankruptcy by court ruling in the next few days.
The proposed deal requires the support of 60 percent of his creditors, but if Anglo retract their support, Fitzpatrick will be left unable to go ahead with his proposals.
Anglo launched a fail bid to have the former banker declared bankrupt last month, but it seems that this fresh attempt is likely to succeed.
The case is due to come before the court again on Monday when a final determination may be made.
“If he is going to be made bankrupt, rather than give them the pleasure, he may decide to apply to the court himself,” a source close to the banker told the Irish Times.
Mr FitzPatrick has overall debts of about €150 million but faces a shortfall of about €80 million between his assets and liabilities.
At yesterday’s meeting he told creditors that he never intended to “leave them short” but had been devastated by the financial situation and the effect it had had upon him.
His 4.5 million shares in Anglo were worth €80 million at the peak of the boom in 2007 but are effectively worthless after it was nationalised in early 2009
Fitzpatrick and his solicitor said that talks with the creditors had been “coridal”.
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