Gerard O'Hare, dubbed 'Mr Newry' because his Quays Shopping Centre attracts hundreds of shoppers from the Republic every day, said he is on his way to raising $1bn (€675m) to buy distressed land and other assets at knock-down prices across Ireland and Europe.

The Co Down developer said he raised the first chunk of money from US investors in recent weeks to go shopping for bargains for land, offices and possibly other companies. Even though banks had cut funding, "opportunity abounds", he said.

O'Hare, who also owns Carlow's Fair Green shopping centre, said work on the 21.5 acre shopping and office site he owns in Waterford near the crystal factory would start in 2010 and that sales-support company Teleperformance would lease space there. "They are IDA approved – and they will come with us next year and create up to 500 jobs," he said.

In an interview, O'Hare said that his company Parker Green International, whose advisers include former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, had total loans of €200m from Anglo Irish but that he was among only "a handful" of developers who were meeting the monthly payments to the nationalised bank in full. "We are one of the few in Anglo who are good, who have survived and who are solvent," he said.

O'Hare said criticism by government politicians and vested interests of southerners shopping in Newry was "protectionism". Ireland, north and south, could benefit from retail competition and the rise of the euro against sterling, he said.

His Parker Green International company, which is completing a restructuring plan, wants to double to 2,100 car spaces on land adjacent to the Quays in Newry.

O'Hare said Anglo Irish did not invite him to buy shares as part of the so-called 'Golden Circle' of businessmen last year. "I was not a golden child. I was a good stable customer. That is why I am still here today and they are not distressed about me in any way," he said.