John Magnier loses High Court battle over Tipperary estate

Billionaire businessman had sought court to affirm a deal he claimed was struck for the 750-acre Barne Estate near Clonmel

Mr Justice Max Barrett said he was satisfied John Magnier had not concluded either the alleged land-sale agreement nor the alleged option agreement. File picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews

Billionaire businessman John Magnier has lost a High Court case over the sale of a large country estate in Tipperary.

Mr Magnier had taken the case over Barne Estate, alleging he had struck a deal with the owner Richard Thompson-Moore to purchase it for €15m.

He had sought the court to affirm the deal he claimed was struck in a handshake agreement for the 750-acre estate in August 2023, but a judge has concluded that the sale had not been completed.

Mr Justice Max Barrett said: 

I am satisfied, for the reasons set out hereafter, that neither the alleged land-sale agreement nor the alleged option agreement were ever concluded.

“Nor do I see any breach of the exclusivity agreement to arise. It follows that all the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs will be and are respectfully refused.” 

Barne Estate, Clonmel Co Tipperary. File picture

The judge said there was “no mutual attempt to create legal relations” and that no person present at the alleged agreement “had the authority to bind the defendants to a concluded sale”.

Mr Magnier had sued the Barne Estate, Mr Thomson-Moore, and three companies of IQEQ (Jersey) Ltd group — the estate trustees — seeking to enforce the purported deal, which his side said had been "unequivocally" agreed. 

Subsequent to these events, a sale of the property was agreed with another party.

The Barne defendants said there was never any final deal with Mr Magnier, as they needed the consent of the trustees to complete a sale. They subsequently preferred to sell the estate to Maurice Regan for €22.25 million.

The High Court heard there had been a “war” between the pair for the estate.

The interior of the house on Barne Estate, Clonmel Co Tipperary. File picture

It heard that Mr Regan wrote in a text to a third party that he hoped a newspaper article would give rival bidder and bloodstock billionaire John Magnier a "heart attack".

Mr Thomson-Moore told the court that while a "price" was agreed with Mr Magnier for Barne, a "deal" was not.

Mr Justice Barrett said he made all of his findings on the balance of probabilities but attached the “greatest weight” to contemporaneous documents created in the “ordinary course of events, particularly those generated before the onset of this dispute”.

Such documents and the conduct of the parties, he said, supported the defendant’s case.

Mr Justice Barrett said he would hold a court hearing at a later date to decide matters of costs.