Developer Dunne takes High Court action over Kildare deal

Millionaire property developer Sean Dunne today began a High Court action over the alleged sale of his 50% stake in the Whitewater Shopping Centre in Co Kildare for €37.5m.

Mr Dunne, a businessman of Merrion Square, Dublin is claiming that the purported sale of his 50% stake in the shopping centre outside Newbridge to businessman Kevin Warren, of Northumberland Road, Dublin is in breach of an agreement that the sale would not be completed until a development agreement had been executed by both parties.

Mr Dunne claims that it was understood by both parties that the €37.5m was only part of an overall figure to be agreed under a development agreement to be negotiated by the two sides.

The multi millionaire, who recently purchased Jury's Hotel and other sites in Ballsbridge, is seeking a declaration from the court that there was no binding agreement between himself and Mr Warren for the sale of his 50% interest in the shopping centre which includes retail units, a multi-storey car park, a cinema and apartments.

Mr Warren has denied Mr Dunne's claims and is claiming that Mr Dunne agreed to sell his 50% stake in the Whitewater Shopping Centre for €37.5m and that a €100 deposit paid on August 31,

2005 secured the deal.

Mr Warren is also claiming that there is a binding contract between Mr Dunne and Mr Warren for the sale of his stake in the shopping centre and that this contract was agreed in a written Memorandum of Agreement made on July 21, 2005 and that Mr Dunne has refused to complete the sale.

Mr Paul Gallagher SC, for Mr Dunne, told the court that Mr Dunne was the owner of 50% of lands at Moorfield and Kilbelin in Newbridge, Co Kildare where the Whitewater Shopping Centre is now situated. Mr Sean Mulryan is the owner of the other 50% interest.

Discussions started in May 2005 between Mr Dunne and Mr Warren, who runs a company called Warren Private Clients, with a view to Warren Private Clients purchasing Mr Dunne's 50% interest in the shopping centre. He said that Mr Warren was not buying on his own behalf but on behalf of investors.

Mr Gallagher said that "heads of terms" agreed between the two parties on June 19, 2005 provided for the mechanism for the sale of the 50% interest through a site contract for the sale of the land and a development agreement.

Mr Gallagher said that the memorandum of July 21, 2005 was not a binding agreement and was never considered to be a binding agreement by the parties until there was a development agreement put in place which would be a highly-complicated agreement that would provide protections for Mr Warren. He said that by June 2005 it was estimated that a half share in the shopping centre was worth €200m.

He said that both parties envisaged protections under the development agreement which would allow either party to walk away from the deal if certain targets were not reached. Mr Gallagher said that until the development agreement was concluded it was never agreed that the transaction was completed.

He said that there were meetings and correspondence between the parties in July and August 2005. He said that both parties were trying to do their best to protect their own interests but had serious concerns and at no stage did they ever reach agreement.

Counsel said that a series of e mails, letters and phone calls from Mr Dunne's solicitors to Mr Warren's solicitors at the beginning of September were not replied to and he said a deliberate decision had been taken not to reply in order to allow an option which would allow Mr Dunne to pull out of the sale to lapse.

He said that the parties did not and could not reach agreement on the development agreement. He said it was envisaged that the development agreement would be completed when the shopping centre was completed and at that stage the transaction would be closed.

The hearing before Ms Justice Mary Finlaw Geoghegan is expected to last two weeks.