A Cork firm that bred expensive shellfish has gone into liquidation, with debts of more than €2 million, after failing to secure new investment.

Feirm Eisc Chleire Teoranta, which produced abalone, a delicacy in Asia, has been in examinership for the past two months.

However, a rescue package could not be agreed, and the High Court has appointed Kieran Wallace, a partner at KPMG, as liquidator to the firm. Wallace will seek a buyer for the firm’s assets, including its abalone, land and its aquaculture licences.

The company, established in the early 1990s on Cape Clear island off west Cork, ran into financial difficulties after an aborted stock market flotation in London.

Feirm Eisc initially farmed turbot, halibut and rag worms, before starting a pilot scheme in 2002 to farm abalone, which sells for upwards of €100 a kilogramme.

In 2004,the company agreed a deal with Neptune Ocean Resources and its parent, Asia Abalone. Under the deal, Neptune took a 90 per cent stake in Feirm Eisc, with the remaining 10 per cent controlled by the Cape Clear Cooperative and Udaras na Gaeltachta.

In addition to an initial investment of €440,000,Neptune agreed to pay for the farm’s infrastructure and operating costs. Neptune planned to finance the deal with a flotation on the Alternative Investment Market in London, but the listing never took place.


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