Precinct bid hit with double whammy

PRECINCT’S €1.1 billion plus bid for the Jurys Doyle Group of hotels was dealt a double blow last night.

In a dramatic move the Jurys Doyle board withdrew from the due diligence because Anglo Irish Bank pulled its backing for the offer.

In a separate move last night, developer Sean Dunne increased his stake in the company to 18.23% up from 3.4%.

A spokesperson for Precinct said: “We’re actively working on the funding issue and we are hopeful we will succeed.”

The board said it has had no other approach for the company.

Mr Dunne has spent or pledged to spend a total of €460 million in buying the key development site from the hotel chain and about €200m in buying up shares in the group.

He paid an average of €17.90 for the equity which he started to build last week, when he bought 3.4% initially to protect his land deal.

Shares closed at €17.85 last well above the Precinct offer of €17.50 for the company having traded earlier at €18 per share.

At €17.85 the group is valued at €1.13bn putting a value Mr Dunne’s stake in the business at €200m.

Mr Dunne said he will be seeking talks with other shareholders in the next while.

Specifically this move brings the Doyle and Beatty families back centre stage in the takeover battle.

The cancellation of the due diligence and his near 20% stake in the company makes Mr Dunne the group’s largest shareholder and firm favourite to do a deal with Jurys Doyle at this stage.

His success in buying the Ballsbridge site from the Jurys Doyle Group is in his favour at this stage.

Mr Ronan Reid of stockbrokers Dolmen Butler Briscoe, who is acting for Mr Dunne said the addition share purchase puts Mr Dunne in a strong position.

That was before the announcement by the Jurys Doyle board that it had withdrawn from the due diligence process.

Between them the extended Doyle and Beatty families and Mr Dunne have close to 50% of the equity making it virtually impossible for Precinct to get a simple 50.1% majority.

Mr Dunne said in a statement he intends to hold talks within the next week “with significant shareholders in the company, either collectively or individually.

“They also want to meet with the company for the purpose of endeavouring to determine a strategy for the company going forward.”

A statement from Mr Dunne said he and DTC Construction said the Precinct consortium should be aware of his plans.

A further announcement will be made ahead of the September 2 deadline imposed by the Irish Takeover Panel on Precinct, Mr Dunne said.

Precinct still has the strong financial backing of the Reubens brothers in London and is fronted by Irish property developer Byran Cullen.

But the brothers objected to the terms of the funding being put forward by Anglo and the bank refused to renegotiate the terms.

Jurys Doyle board then cancelled the due diligence.