Solicitor Brian O'Donnell and his wife are being sued by Bank of Ireland over allegedly unpaid property loans

Solicitor Brian O'Donnell and his wife Dr Mary Pat O'Donnell, who owed banks nearly €900m, have fully repaid a loan of nearly €120m on their Columbus Courtyard office building in Canary Wharf in London. A stock exchange announcement last week said the loan had been redeemed.

The Commercial Court is due to hear a motion for entry tomorrow by Bank of Ireland relating to its legal action against the couple for €69.5m in allegedly unpaid property loans and guarantees. The Columbus Courtyard loan is not part of those proceedings.

The £108m Columbus Courtyard loan was used to acquire the office building and, according to the prospectus, the sponsor "was a private high-net-worth individual based in Ireland". It says the loan was to be tranched with a securitised piece of £70.8m and that the loan represented a loan-to-value ratio of 60% at the cut-off date.

The loan was the only one within a wider convertible mortgage-backed security that required the borrower to repay any principal until it matured. The loan "amortises partly throughout its term but requires the Columbus Court borrower to make a substantial repayment of principal on the maturity date". The loan had a minimum interest cover percentage of 105%, the document states.

The office building is in Canary Wharf and is let in its entirety to Credit Suisse First Boston until November 2024. It was designed by Gensler and completed in 19990. Its market value on 25 September 2005 was £118m.

A statement of affairs submitted by the O'Donnells to the court showed that they owed €457m to investment bank Morgan Stanley and €235m to German property bank Aareal. The couple valued their assets at nearly €1.1bn.

The Sunday Tribune revealed last week that the bank had initiated the proceedings against the O'Donnells.