Courts

Rose of Tralee festival company sued by investor over alleged shareholder oppression

High Court case is second taken by Richard Henggeler, father of former Rose of Tralee contestant

Richard Henggeler, with his wife, Eibhlin, outside the Fels Point Hotel in Tralee, which they purchased in memory of their late daughter Dorothy, the 2011 Washington Rose.

Mary Carolan
Fri Jun 7 2024 - 12:45

A shareholder in the company operating the Rose of Tralee international festival has taken a legal action alleging shareholder oppression by its CEO and by another director.

The action, arising from concerns by Richard Henggeler over the conduct of the affairs of Kerry Rose Festival Ltd, with registered offices at Denny Street, Tralee, comes just months before this year’s festival is due to open.

The case is the second set of High Court proceedings initiated by Mr Henggeler, who is the father of a former Rose of Tralee contestant, and a shareholder in Kerry Rose Festival Ltd since 2014.

His first set of proceedings, filed in early May, is aimed at securing the return of money allegedly loaned by him to the company whose latest published accounts show loans from shareholders amounted to €96,414 as of March 31st, 2022.

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His second case, filed on Friday, alleges shareholder oppression by Anthony O’Gara, chief executive of Kerry Rose Festival Ltd and a local businessman. Mr Henggeler also alleges shareholder oppression by another director of the company, John McCarthy, who is an accountant.

The respondents to the second set of proceedings, taken under section 212 of the Companies Act, are the company, Mr O’Gara and Mr McCarthy.

It is understood Mr Henggeler is seeking several orders, including ones requiring the respondents to provide details of accounts and all transactions of the company over the past decade as well as orders cancelling any transactions allegedly oppressive of Mr Henggeler. He also wants orders requiring Mr O’Gara and Mr McCarthy to sell their shares to him.

Some of his concerns relate to the treatment of an investment of some €800,000 made by him in the company in 2015.

Kerry Rose Festival Ltd said it was unable to provide any comment on the legal proceedings at this time. “As this matter is currently before the courts, it would be inappropriate for us to make any public statements,” it said.

Mr Henggeler, who owns 31.1 per cent of Kerry Rose Festival Ltd, is represented by Tralee-based solicitors Cadogan O’Regan LLP.

He is the father of the 2011 Washington DC Rose Dorothy Moriarty Henggeler, who died of a brain haemorrhage shortly before her 28th birthday. He and his wife Eibhlin brought their daughter’s body back to Ireland to be laid to rest in her mother’s hometown of Killarney.

At the time of the festival in 2011, Dorothy, known as Dott, worked as a communications co-ordinator for T Rowe Price, having graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in communications. She also worked for Tourism Ireland in New York.

A Rose Walk, with a stone memorial to Dorothy, was unveiled in Tralee in 2015.

In that same year the Henggelers, who were regular visitors to Ireland, bought the 165-bedroom Fels Point Hotel in Tralee for an undisclosed sum. The hotel was sold through the National Asset Management Agency and had a guide price of €4 million. The hotel, after extensive refurbishment and expansion, was renamed The Rose Hotel and includes Dott’s Bar, named after the Henggeler’s daughter.

Mr Henggeler, a software engineer and architect by profession, sold his company, Henggeler Computer Consultants in late 2011 for an undisclosed sum to computer security giant Raytheon.

Mary Carolan

Mary Carolan

Mary Carolan is the Legal Affairs Correspondent of the Irish Times

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