Kildare construction firm to be wound up over €25M UAE debt

An insolvent Kildare company has been put into liquidation for owing €25 million to creditors in the United Arab Emirates.

SCLAD Construction, which has an address in Kilcock, had Kieran Wallace of KPMG appointed as a liquidator after Abu Dhabi firm United Precast Concrete ordered a wind-up petition for the Kildare company.

The Abu Dhabi based company made the move as SCLAD's liquidation came following the firm's failure to pay United Precast Concrete one fifth of €2.25 million in Emirati dirhams. SCLAD had made a series of deals to supply and manufacture precast concrete for a school construction programme in Abu Dhabi.

According to the Sunday Business Post, the High Court heard that a letter of demand was unheeded and that the discovery of an empty branch office in Abu Dhabi led to SCLAD admitting it was insolvent in 2015 and had ceased operations in the Emirates.

SCLAD have opposed the wind-up petition, stating that United Precast Concrete have an ulterior motive behind the move and they were trying to skip to the front of the queue of creditors that the firm has. The court heard that there were 78 creditors part of a group who were bringing a case against the Kildare company.