John Magnier's legal action over €15m Tipperary land deal opens in High Court

Mr Magnier claims owners of the Barne Estate reneged on a purported deal to sell the 751-acre estate to him for €15m, instead choosing to sell to a US-based construction magnate for a higher price

Businessman John Magnier arriving at the High Court in Dublin on Tuesday morning for the start of his legal action. Picture: Collins Courts

Coolmore Stud bloodstock billionaire John Magnier’s legal action over a collapsed €15m Co Tipperary land deal has opened at the High Court.

Mr Magnier was present in court for the opening of the case.

The proceedings are expected to last three weeks. 

Lawyers acting for the founder of the world-famous Coolmore Stud have claimed before the High Court 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 751 acres of land in Tipperary for €15m.

It is claimed that Barne Estate, having reneged on the alleged deal, preferred to sell the land at the higher price of €22.5m to Mr Regan, the founder of the New York building firm JT Magen.

Opening the case on Tuesday before Mr Justice Max Barrett, Paul Gallagher SC, for the Magniers, claimed  Mr Regan’s pursuit of the land breached an exclusivity agreement made on the purported deal between representatives of the estate and Mr Magnier.

Mr Magnier — along with his adult children John Paul Magnier and Kate Wachman — wants to enforce the alleged deal.

They say the deal was struck at an August 22, 2023, meeting at Mr Magnier’s Coolmore Stud. They also claim an exclusivity agreement, stipulating the estate not permit its representatives to solicit or encourage any expression of interest, inquiry or offer on the property from anyone other than Mr Magnier, was in effect from August 31 to September 30.

Barne Estate is held for the benefit of Richard Thomson-Moore, his sister Alexandra, their children, and their spouses by a Jersey trust.

The Magniers have sued the Barne Estate, Mr Thomson-Moore and three companies of IQEQ (Jersey) Ltd group seeking to enforce the purported deal.

The Barne defendants say there was never any such agreement and subsequently they agreed to sell it for €22.5m to Mr Regan, founder of the New York building firm JT Magen.

Mr Regan is not a party to the case.

Mr Gallagher claimed a local estate agent involved in the deal, John Stokes, appeared “visibly shaken” when he visited Mr Magnier following calls from Mr Regan after the deal was claimed to be agreed.

Mr Gallagher also told the court Mr Regan allegedly arranged for crime journalist Paul Williams to contact Stokes.

“The implication was that his [Mr Regan’s] exclusion from the bidding process was somehow unlawful,” said Mr Gallagher.