Cairn shareholders back €14m land deal with director

Cairn Homes’ shareholders have backed the housebuilder’s €14 million purchase of a site belonging to Alan McIntosh, one of its leading investors.

The company last month announced that it had agreed to buy a site in Stillorgan, Dublin from the Emerald Fund Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle (Icav), controlled by Mr McIntosh, a non-executive director and major shareholder.

Results from the extraordinary general meeting held on Monday to approve the deal show that shareholders with 87.09 per cent of the company backed the purchase.

Stock market rules required Cairn to hold the meeting to get shareholders’ backing because of Mr McIntosh’s interest in the site.

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A Scottish accountant, Mr McIntosh was one of Cairn's founders along with chief executive Michael Stanley.

Cairn already owns land adjacent to the 1.35 acre property that it is buying from Emerald. It will shortly seek permission to build 464 apartments, along with shops and amenities, on the enlarged site.

The Stillorgan site that Cairn is buying was previously the Esmonde Motors Garage. Mr McIntosh bought the property and transferred it to Emerald.

A letter to shareholders from the housebuilder's chairman, John Reynolds, said that the deal would allow the company combine the two sites, boosting Cairn's presence in a Dublin suburb where demand for homes is high.

The Dublin-listed company bought the other Stillorgan property, known as the Blake's site, from Ulster Bank in 2016. It covers 1.55 acres.

Mr Reynolds said that Cairn expected to be able to build a “substantial number” of new homes in the area.

He added that the €14 million price agreed was in line with valuations from proerty dealers, Hooke & MacDonald.

An Icav is an investment vehicle created under Irish law and run by a board of directors that does not have limited liability.