John Magnier's son-in-law denies making 'deceptively' low bids for Barne Estate
High Court reporters
Billionaire John Magnier's son-in-law has denied "low balling" the vendors of Barne Estate in an allegedly "deceptive" manner in starting bids on the Co Tipperary property before a €15 million alleged deal fell through.
At the High Court, Mr Magnier's son-in-law, David Wachman, said it was "common practice" to start bidding at a level lower than the vendor's valuation for any property and that price expectations had to be "controlled".
Lawyers acting for Mr Magnier, founder of the world-famous Coolmore Stud, have claimed that a US-based construction magnate, Maurice Regan, the preferred buyer, engaged in a "full-frontal assault" on Mr Magnier's claimed deal to buy the 751-acre tract.
Mr Magnier's proceedings claim that Barne Estate reneged on the alleged deal, preferring to sell the land at the higher price of €22.25 million to Mr Regan, the founder of the New York building firm JT Magen.
Mr Magnier – along with his adult children – wants to enforce the alleged deal.
They say the deal was struck at an August 22nd, 2023, kitchen meeting at Mr Magnier’s Coolmore home. They also claim an exclusivity agreement that was in effect from August 31st to September 30th stipulated that the estate would not permit its representatives to solicit or encourage any expression of interest, inquiry or offer on the property from anyone other than Mr Magnier.
Barne Estate has been held for the benefit of Richard Thomson-Moore and others by a Jersey trust.
The Magnier side has sued the Barne Estate, Mr Thomson-Moore and three companies of IQEQ (Jersey) Ltd group, seeking to enforce the purported deal, which they say had been "unequivocally" agreed.
The Barne defendants say there was never any such agreement, as they needed the consent of the trustees to finalise any agreement and subsequently they preferred to sell the estate to Mr Regan.
Mr Regan is not a party to the case.
Paul Gallagher SC, for the Magnier side, was told by Mr Wachman that Mr Regan "was always of the opinion that we shouldn't bid against each other", as this would generally mean the two strongest bidders, in this case Mr Magnier and Mr Regan, would increase land prices in Tipperary.
Mr Wachman told Niall F Buckley SC, for the Barne Estate, that Coolmore was interested in Barne and by July 2023 co-ordinated a bid of €10.5 million through a third party acting on behalf of a "wealthy UK investor" without informing the Thomson-Moores, who sought €13.5 million for the estate, of Coolmore's involvement.
Another third party who did not disclose to the vendor that Coolmore was also using him had earlier pulled out of bidding and when both third parties withdrew "it left Coolmore as the only one left on the pitch".
Mr Buckley asked if Mr Wachman was aware that the third parties were already known to his clients and was told "yes".
Mr Buckley said this strategy amounted to a "ruse" and a "backstory" by Coolmore regarding their interest in the property, which was not on the open market.
Mr Buckley said not long after the first bid that Coolmore submitted a bid of €10M in what was, he alleged, a "deceptively low bid".
Mr Wachman said the strategy was engaged to "control expectations" on the value of the estate.
Mr Buckley said the "low ball" tactic was to "dent confidence" in the value of the estate through bids from "ostensibly two different bidders".
Regarding the claim of trying to dent the confidence of the vendors, Mr Wachman said "I am not sure I agree with you but that is a matter for interpretation".
Mr Wachman said the view of there being two bidders was correct but that he could not have known the confidence levels of the vendors.
Mr Wachman said information on the third-party bids reaching the Coolmore side from the estate agent showed the agent to be trustworthy.
"We then knew the agent was telling the truth," said Mr Wachman.
"You may have a rationale but the vendors were the casualties in that," said Mr Buckley, who added that Coolmore were using people known to his clients to "advance veiled inquiries".
Mr Buckley said that Mr Regan will dispute the claim that he wanted to suppress land prices in the area and that his eventual and higher preferred bid of €22.5 million was inconsistent with this claim.
Mr Wachman told counsel that it was inconsistent with the land-price suppression claim because Mr Regan "had a bee in his bonnet" after learning of the alleged agreement between Barne and the Magnier side.
Mr Buckley said the "low ball" offers from the Magnier side were more consistent with any price suppression as opposed to Mr Regan engaging in the tactic. Mr Wachman said it was "common practice" to start at a lower price and added that the eventual bid from the Magnier side was €15 million.
The hearing continues before Mr Justice Max Barrett.
