Irish private client property group and wealth manager Quinlan Private yesterday took out a half page ad in the banking recruitment section ...

Irish private client property group and wealth manager Quinlan Private yesterday took out a half page ad in the banking recruitment section of the Financial Times announcing that it was looking to recruit numerous appointments to its planned London office. Quinlan Private, which is run by the group’s founder Derek Quinlan, and his fellow partners Tom Dowd and Peter Donnelly, plans to open an office in London in April. The firm said it is looking to recruit associate directors and relationship managers to be based in its new offices in London’s West End. It has yet to announce where these offices will be located in the West End. The wealth manager was established in Dublin in 1989 by Mr Quinlan, an ex-tax inspector for the Irish Revenue. It now has additional offices in New York, Shanghai and Prague, and claims to manage real estate assets worth in excess of €5 billion ($6.1 billion). Quinlan came to prominence in the UK last year when the group won the bid for the biggest property deal in London in 2005 – a prime piece of commercial land in Knightsbridge – one of city’s most expensive areas. The group beat off competition from fellow Irish businessman David Arnold, Irish investment group, William Ewart, and the Abu Dhabi royal family. Quinlan has property interests all over Europe. It recently bought the old offices of Barclays Private Bank in London in order to expand Claridge’s hotel, which the group also owns. And it is currently in negotiations to sell Milan’s most prestigious hotel the Four Seasons for around €200 million. One of the main reasons Quinlan is buying up so much commercial property for its investors is because of tax benefits. Irish investors are able to offset any interest payments on borrowings related to the investment against the tax bill on their total income.