Judge makes confidentiality ruling in Weis v GMCA loans case
Weis Group will be permitted to view commercially sensitive documents pertaining to Renaker’s development projects despite “competition risks”, a judge has ruled. The ruling was made ahead of the combined authority and the appellant locking horns at the Competition Appeal Tribunal later this month.
Judge Hodge Malek has ruled that Joel Weis, son of Weis Group founder Aubrey Weis, will be allowed to view three unredacted documents that provide information on the GMCA’s decision to award loans totalling £120m from its Greater Manchester Investment Loans Fund to Renaker.
The approved £59.3m and £60.7m loans will fund the delivery of one of two 51-storey towers at Renaker’s Contour scheme at Great Jackson Street and a 60-storey development at Trinity Islands respectively. Overall, Renaker has been awarded loans of £578.32m by the GMCA.
Weis Group states that the loans that are the subject of the CAT hearing “would not have been granted by a commercial operator or that the loans have been concluded on non-market terms and have distorted the proper and fair operation of the relevant market in and around Manchester”.
A spokesperson for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority said: “We refute any suggestion that the Renaker loans from the Housing Investment Loans Fund have been given at less than market rate or on preferential terms, and are confident in the case we will be making at the Competition Appeal Tribunal at the end of May.”
Weis Group and Renaker declined to comment when approached by Place North West.
Weis Group, which launched the legal action against the GMCA last year, is seeking “declaration that the Respondent [GMCA] has granted an unlawful subsidy to Renaker and an order prohibiting the provision of the subsidies and or quashing of loan arrangements” according to court papers.
Weis Group argues that in order for it to fight its case it needs access to certain unredacted documents.
The documents are an “investment proposal dated February 2023, an undated document entitled Trinity D1 & Contour Summary Heads of Terms, and an undated document entitled Interest Rate Setting Paper”, according to court papers.
The judge conceded that the viewing of such documents would normally be done by an instructed expert or in-house counsel and that requests like the one made by Weis Group would be refused “in normal circumstances”.
However, the judge said that the “particularities” of the Weis Group structure meant an exception would be made.
On balance, the “practical need to not to delay the trial timetable” and to allow Aubrey Weis to give informed instructions to his lawyer, the judge has granted permission for Joel Weis to view the confidential documents and report back to his father.
The judge accepted there are “competition risks” in allowing Weis Group to see the material and that it is “to a certain extent, prejudicial to Renaker”.
Mr Barrett KC, representing the Weis Group, said he “appreciates the confidentiality concerns raised but that his team has identified what they say is the irreducible minimum of sensitive and confidential information needed to be disclosed”, the court papers state.
Conditions attached to the ruling mean that the information contained within the documents can only be used for the purposes of the case.
“Whatever is disclosed to Mr Joel Weis can only be discussed with the lawyers instructed on this case and no one else,” the court papers state.
The hearing into the lawfulness of the loans will take place on 27, 28, and 30 May.
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