Seán Dunne, the property developer who has agreed to buy a portion of Jurys Doyle's Ballsbridge site, has begun to build a stake in the hotel group. Una McCaffrey reports.
It is believed that Mr Dunne wants to reach a position where he could persuade any party taking over the company to sell him the entirety of the Ballsbridge site.
Market sources said yesterday that Mr Dunne was preparing to build a stake of up to 10 or 12 per cent in order to maximise his bargaining power on the matter.
Mr Dunne yesterday bought up 3.37 per cent of the company in four transactions, paying a total of €37 million for the position.
While Mr Dunne is not thought to have designs on bidding to take over the Jurys group, the market continues to be consumed with talk of a possible "white knight" bidder for the company.
The only bidder to so far show its hand is the Precinct consortium, which has said it will pay €17.50 per share for the company.
Sources were yesterday pointing to financier Derek Quinlan as a possible new bidder, but his spokesman declined to comment.
Mr Quinlan showed his expertise in gathering investors for hotel ventures most clearly when he led a €1.1 billion takeover of the Savoy group in 2004.
Some believe he could develop a takeover structure that would appeal to the Doyle and Beatty families, who together own 30 per cent of Jurys. Neither family favours the Precinct approach.
Precinct, led by property developer Bryan Cullen, has assured the Jurys board that it will not try to block Mr Dunne in the property sale already agreed.
At the moment, Mr Dunne is buying 4.84 acres of a total footprint of 7.5 acres at Ballsbridge, with Jurys keeping the part of the site that houses the flagship Berkeley Court hotel.
Mr Dunne's offer of €260 million for the bulk of the Ballsbridge site was accepted at the end of last month. Buying the remainder of the property would, on the basis of the €260 million price tag, imply a further cost of about €145 million.
Mr Dunne paid an average price of €17.45 for his shares yesterday, with the result that he would not lose money in the event of selling his shares to Precinct at €17.50 or more.
He could not be contacted last night.
The Takeover Panel told Precinct two weeks ago that it must make a firm bid for Jurys before next Friday or walk away.
Precinct has since been invited to complete due diligence on the firm and is working towards a bid. It is possible however that the group could ask the Takeover Panel for an extension of its deadline.
Shares in Jurys closed 15 cent stronger at €17.55 last night. They briefly touched €17.80, but volume at this level was thin.
