Irish financiers feed on builders as cheap loans fade into past

Dublin

ALAN Merriman used to chase Irish real-estate developers around Dublin, competing with other bankers to lend them money before the market's crash devastated the economy. Now, he says they come to him.

Mr Merriman is among a new wave of financiers taking equity stakes in developments and providing high-risk loans to builders that carry interest rates of more than 10 per cent.