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.

"The pendulum has very much swung," said Mr Merriman, 48, whose Elkstone Private Advisors has backed more…