A luxury Caribbean home that was owned by former billionaire businessman Tony O’Reilly has been sold for less than €12m.

The exclusive property at the Lyford Cay resort in the Bahamas, called Lissadell Tamura, was sold by his bankruptcy trustee. Mr O’Reilly was declared bankrupt in the Bahamas in 2015.

It had been expected that the exclusive property in a gated community on New Providence Island in the Bahamas would have fetched about $17m (€16m). Lyford Cay properties are much sought after by wealthy expats and celebrities.

Marketed by Sotheby’s International Realty, Lissadell Tamura was described as a private, elevated beachfront property on three acres with 287ft of sandy beach.

The former business mogul once counted a 29pc stake in the publisher of this newspaper, INM, among his assets.

Mr O’Reilly, a former Ireland rugby international, had a €22m judgment secured against him by AIB in 2014.

Aside from his prestigious Bahamas home, he also owned other trophy properties, including his prized 750-acre Castlemartin estate in Co Kildare. It was sold in 2014 to US tycoon John Malone for €28m.

The property had been described as Mr O’Reilly’s “spiritual home”. His parents and two of his grandchildren are buried in a private graveyard beside a medieval church on the grounds.

His holiday home in Glandore, Co Cork, was sold in 2015 for €1.5m.

Mr O’Reilly (80), a former chief executive of Heinz, has endured a precipitous decline in his fortunes.

He also once owned a significant stake in Waterford Wedgwood, alongside his brother-in-law Peter Goulandris. The pair stuffed hundreds of millions of euro into the business in a failed effort to keep it alive. Waterford Wedgwood collapsed in 2009. Mr Goulandris has also owned a property in the exclusive Lyford Cay resort.

IMAGE: Tony O’Reilly was declared bankrupt in the Bahamas in 2015. Photo: Mark Condren

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