The son-in-law of billionaire John Magnier has denied claims he “fraudulently” set up the sellers of the Barn estate by bidding on the Co Tipperary property before a proposed €15m deal fell through.
In the High Court, Mr Magnier's son-in-law David Wachman said it was “normal practice” to start bidding below the vendor's estimated value for any property and that price expectations should be “controlled”.
Lawyers representing Mr Magnier, the founder of world-famous Coolmore Stud, claim US property magnate Maurice Regan, who is the preferred buyer, has launched a “direct attack” on Mr Magnier's proposed deal to buy the 751-acre property.
Mr Magnier's lawsuit says the Barne Estate backed out of the proposed deal, choosing to sell the land at a higher price of €22.25 million to Mr Regan, the founder of New York-based development firm JT Magen.
Mr. Magnier, together with his adult children, is seeking to ensure that the proposed deal is carried out.
They allege the deal was reached at a kitchen table meeting on August 22, 2023, at Mr Magnier's home in Coolmore. They also allege that an exclusivity agreement, in force from August 31 to September 30, prohibited estate representatives from soliciting or encouraging interests, inquiries or offers for the property from anyone other than Mr Magnier.
The Barne Estate is held by a Jersey trust for the benefit of Richard Thomson-Moore and others.
Mr Magnier's party have brought a claim against the Barne Estate, Mr Thomson-Moore and three IQEQ (Jersey) Ltd group companies, seeking to enforce the proposed deal, which they say was “unambiguously” agreed.
The defendants in Barne claim that no such agreement existed because they required the consent of the trustees to enter into any agreement and they subsequently decided to sell the estate to Mr Regan.
Mr. Regan is not a party to this case.
Mr Wachman told Paul Gallagher, the managing director representing the Magnier side, that Mr Regan “always believed we should not bid against each other” as that would usually mean the two strongest bidders, in this case Mr Magnier and Mr Regan, would drive up land prices in Tipperary.
Mr Wachman told Niall F Buckley, the lead prosecutor in the Barnes case, that Coolmore had been interested in Barnes and by July 2023 had arranged a €10.5m bid through a third party acting on behalf of a “wealthy British investor” without informing Mr Thomson-Moore, who had asked €13.5m for the estate, of Coolmore's involvement.
Another third party, who had not disclosed to the seller that Coolmore was also using it, had earlier withdrawn from the bidding, and when both third parties withdrew, “only Coolmore was left in the field.”
Mr. Buckley asked Mr. Wachman whether he knew that the third parties were already known to his clients and was told “yes.”
Mr Buckley said the strategy was a “ploy” and “backstory” on Coolmore's part regarding their interest in properties that were not on the open market.
Mr Buckley said that shortly after the initial bid, Coolmore submitted an offer of €10m, which he said was “deceptively low”.
Mr Wachman said the strategy was used to “manage expectations” about the value of the estate.
Mr Buckley said the “low bid” tactics were intended to “undermine confidence” in the value of the property through offers from “two supposedly different bidders”.
Regarding the claim of an attempt to undermine supplier confidence, Mr Wachman said: “I'm not sure I agree with you, but it's a matter of interpretation.”
Mr. Wachman noted that the opinion that there were two bidders was correct, but he could not know how much confidence the suppliers had.
Mr Wachman added that the information about third-party applications received by Coolmore from the estate agent speaks to the agent's reliability
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
