Latest news with #JohnMagnier
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Billionaire Magnier claims his name being 'slaughtered' in court
Bloodstock billionaire John Magnier has complained of his alleged unfair treatment as he faces cross examination over a failed €15 million land deal in the High Court. The founder of the world famous Coolmore Stud at the start of Thursday's hearing asked the judge's permission to address the court. Advertisement He said he thought he was being "treated unfairly" Wednesday, by the opposing senior counsel for Barne Estate Martin Hayden SC during cross examination. He claimed counsel "unfairly went after" his good name and Mr Magnier declared he came to court for "protection, not to be slaughtered". Lawyers acting for Mr Magnier 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 €15 million. 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. Advertisement 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 22nd, 2023, kitchen meeting at Mr Magnier's Coolmore home. They also claim an exclusivity agreement that was in effect from August 31t 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. Advertisement The Magnier side have 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 and subsequently they preferred to sell the estate to Mr Regan. Mr Regan is not a party to the case. At the High Court on Thursday , Mr Magnier repeatedly told the court that when it came to legal and financially detailed matters that he hired experts who would decide and report on the progression of land deals for him. Advertisement Mr Magnier said "I don't think you believe me - I am not a solicitor" to Mr Hayden and said that he was answering the same questions "again and again and when I answer you look out the window". Mr Hayden said he was being "polite" to Mr Magnier in letting him finish his answers but that after any "rambling" by the plaintiff he would still be asked to specifically address the question originally asked. Mr Magnier told Mr Hayden that while he was "smarter than me" he was not going to allow Mr Hayden to put "your words in my mouth, I am not going to do that". Mr Magnier claims that on the night the Thomson-Moores went to another room in Coolmore to ring the trustees of Barne to get the go-ahead on the deal and returned with the permissions needed. Advertisement Mr Hayden said that phone records show that neither the Thomson-Moores nor estate agent John Stokes, also present at the meeting, made any contact with the trustees. "You had to come up with another story which was that they said they were calling them," said Mr Hayden. "They did say they were going to call. I have not changed my story at all. It's unfair to say so. It's untrue," said Mr Magnier. "I shook hands with the three people who were there," he said, adding "my word is my bond". Mr Magnier said that it was his suggestion to present a "no strings attached €50K" in two envelopes on September 7th, 2023, to Mr Stokes who gave it to the Thomson-Moores because the family were allowing Mr Magnier's people onto the land, were resisting bids and claimed that Mr Stokes had told him the family were "strapped for cash" Mr Hayden said that it will be Mr Stokes' evidence that he never said the family were strapped for cash. However, the money was returned to the Magniers days later and Mr Magnier told the court that it was his estimation that this was a signal that the family had now changed their minds and were going with the higher bid. The case continues before Mr Justice Max Barrett.
Agriland
a day ago
- Business
- Agriland
Reports of owning 20,000ac in Tipperary ‘totally false'
By Paul Neilan Bloodstock billionaire John Magnier has told the High Court that money doesn't mean much to him, but it does offer a way to keep score 'on good days and bad days' in business. Magnier also told the High Court that he employed experts in legal and financial fields because some advisory decisions were 'out of my pay grade'. The billionaire also told the court that a barrister is 'trying to portray me as a bad guy' in a case where he says he had an exclusive agreement to buy land in Co. Tipperary for €15 million but missed out when the owners preferred a higher bidder. Lawyers acting for Magnier, 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 Magnier's claimed deal to buy 751ac of land in Tipperary for €15 million. Magnier's proceedings claim that Barne Estate, having reneged on the alleged deal, preferred to sell the land at the higher price of €22.25 million to Maurice Regan, the founder of the New York building firm JT Magen. Magnier has told the High Court that when he inquired about what happened with the bid, the estate agent involved told him: 'One word, John: greed.' Magnier deal John 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, kitchen meeting at John Magnier's Coolmore home. They also claim an exclusivity agreement that was in effect from August 31 to September 30 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 Magnier. Barne Estate has been held for the benefit of Richard Thomson-Moore and others by a Jersey trust. The Magniers have sued the Barne Estate, Thomson-Moore and three companies of IQEQ (Jersey) Ltd. group, seeking to enforce the purported deal, which they say had been 'unequivocally' agreed. Image: Coolmore Stud Facebook The Barne Estate representatives say there was never any such agreement and subsequently they preferred to sell the estate to Regan. Maurice Regan is not a party to the case. High Court At the High Court, senior counsel Martin Hayden, for Barne, asked John Magnier if he is a billionaire. Magnier replied: 'I'd hope so – I've been fortunate.' Magnier said he was aware that the Thomson-Moores were selling the land so they could move to Australia to get better medical treatment for a family member. Magnier said he did not think the Thomson-Moore family were 'greedy', that he dealt with them in a 'fair and honourable way' and that the comment about alleged 'greed' was something that was said to him by the estate agent. Martin Hayden asked if there was a 'disparity' between Magnier's billionaire fortune and a family, whose sole asset was the farm they were selling for medical bills and who were being offered €7.2 million more than Magnier had offered. The senior counsel asked Magnier if this, in his opinion, amounted to 'greed'. 'You're trying to portray me as the bad guy here. Nobody else would have offered them €15 million. It was the highest bid at the time,' Magnier responded. He told the court that he believed the Thomson-Moores could have been 'misled' by Regan, who Magnier alleged wanted to keep land prices in Tipperary down. John Magnier also told Hayden that he did not think the Thomson-Moores were behaving in a 'greedy' manner when they preferred Regan's offer, which was €7.25 million more than his own. Magnier told the senior counsel that he left school at 15 with 'not a very good education' and that he employed 'experts' in legal and financial matters because some decisions were 'above my pay grade'. The barrister asked the billionaire how much land he owned in Tipperary. Magnier answered, 'very little', and said reports of him owning 20,000ac were 'totally false'. Magnier said that he has five children and 15 grandchildren, that his operation employs 1,300 people and that he would not do deals on distressed properties or people under duress to sell. When the Barne Estate's senior counsel asked about Magnier's wealth, the billionaire said that money does not mean much to him but that it was a way to 'keep the score' on 'good and bad days' in business. Paul Gallagher, senior counsel for John Magnier, has said Maurice Regan was 'the man who started all this'. Counsel said the US-based businessman had a 'grandiose and mistaken' belief that the sale should not go ahead to Magnier and set out to 'destroy' the agreement to purchase Barne. The trial continues before Justice Max Barrett.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Times
‘I came here for protection': John Magnier complains about ‘unfair' treatment in court
Billionaire businessman John Magnier has accused a barrister representing the Barne Estate owners of 'slaughtering' him and trying to take away his good name. The bloodstock magnate addressed Martin Hayden on the third day of the hearing of his case alleging the property owners reneged on a deal, sealed with a handshake, to sell the 751-acre estate to him for €15 million. Mr Magnier, his son John Paul Magnier and his daughter Katherine Wachman are suing Barne Estate owner Richard Thomson-Moore and three companies of IQEQ (Jersey), the holding company of the estate shares, over the purported sale they say occurred on August 22nd, 2023, at Mr Magnier's home in Coolmore. They claim the Thomson-Moores backtracked on the agreement and accepted an offer from American-based businessman Maurice Regan for €22.25 million. READ MORE In the Commercial Court in Dublin on Thursday, Mr Magnier told Mr Hayden, senior counsel for the Thomson-Moores, he feels he was treated 'unfairly' in the witness box on Wednesday. 'I got a lot of praise at the start. You ended up taking my good name. I can't do business without my good name,' he said. 'They (the Thomson-Moores) wouldn't have done a deal with me without my good name. I came here for protection and not to be slaughtered'. Mr Magnier said he is not a 'legal person' and left that to others. Every day he received an update on his bloodstock business, which covers 6,000 mares a year. He also gets a daily update on his businesses in the UK, which employ 18,000 people. Mr Magnier went on to accuse Mr Hayden of repeatedly asking him the same questions. He is not a 'Pontius Pilate' washing his hands of the deal he had made with the Thomson-Moores. 'If I say something to you, it's the truth'. Mr Justice Max Barrett interjected to say Mr Hayden is doing his job and, in the judge's opinion, 'had not strayed at all yesterday'. Mr Hayden also said he is doing his job to the best of his ability and there are always two sides to every story. The judge said Mr Magnier and Mr Hayden are 'decent and honorable gentlemen, let's leave it at that'. In his evidence, Mr Magnier said only Mr Stokes had mentioned on the night of August 22nd, 2023, that the sale needed the approval of the trustees based in Jersey. According to Mr Magnier, Mr Stokes said they needed to phone the trustees and Mr Thomson-Moore's sister Alex about the deal. They adjourned to another room and, when they returned and shook hands, Mr Magnier believed the outside parties had given their approval. Mr Magnier's case alleges Mr Thomson-Moore 'had the authority or expressly represented that he had the authority' when he agreed to sell the farm, Mr Hayden said. Mr Magnier responded: 'I didn't say he had authority on the night. I assumed he had authority. It was his farm as far as he was concerned.' Mr Hayden said all property deals are subject to contract, and Mr Magnier was not going to send €15 million via Revolut to the Thomson-Moores without paperwork. Mr Hayden suggested Mr Magnier had entered into an exclusivity agreement with the Thomson-Moores for the land because he knew he did not have a binding legal contract for it. Mr Magnier rejected this suggestion, saying he only entered into an exclusivity agreement because Mr Regan was attempting to interfere in the sales process.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
‘Are you trying to rile me? You're doing a good job,' John Magnier tells Barne Estate's barrister
In the witness box, John Magnier appeared nonplussed about the extent of his wealth; money was only his way of 'keeping the score' . He left school at 15, he told a rapt and packed Commercial Court. Therefore, he wasn't familiar with a lot of legal jargon. All that stuff he left to his experts. 'Who are these experts?' asked barrister Martin Hayden, representing the Barne Estate owners. 'They're too numerous to mention,' was the response. Mr Magnier hoped his second day of evidence in his court case over his alleged purchase of the Barne Estate in Co Tipperary for €15 million would be his final day of ever giving evidence in court. READ MORE At the heart of the dispute is whether an enforceable sale took place when Mr Magnier shook hands with auctioneer John Stokes and the owners of the Barne Estate, Richard Thomson-Moore and his wife Anna, on August 22nd, 2023. The meeting took place at Mr Magnier's Coolmore home in Co Tipperary and he thought he had a deal. Mr Hayden, senior counsel for the Thomson-Moores, mixed flattery with a forensic dissection of the nature of the disputed Barne Estate deal. 'Congratulations, you have been a very successful businessman,' he offered by way of his opening gambit. 'I have had good days and bad days,' Mr Magnier responded. Mr Hayden continued: 'If it was a profit-and-loss account, your good days would outweigh the bad ones by a reasonable margin. Is that so?' 'I've been fortunate,' said Mr Magnier. 'You have a world-class establishment in Coolmore. In essence, would you say you are in the category of billionaire with your overall assets?' continued Mr Hayden. 'I hope so,' Mr Magnier responded. Later Mr Hayden suggested Mr Magnier is a 'very intelligent man'. The star witness was having none of it: 'That will get nowhere with me. If I was this intelligent, why would I need all these people around me?' The people he referred to were the solicitors and tax experts. 'Are you trying to rile me? You're doing a good job,' he said at one stage to Mr Hayden. On another occasion, he accused Mr Hayden of treating him like a parrot by making him say the same things over and over again. Mr Magnier denied he purchased 20,000 acres of land in Co Tipperary but admitted he did not know exactly how much land he owned. Mr Hayden posited to him that he had acquired a huge property portfolio at home and abroad. He asked whether he was really suggesting he did not know the meaning of the phrase 'subject to contract'. Stressing again that he left school at 15, Mr Magnier responded: 'I haven't a good education. I employ people to do things on my behalf. It is what it is. 'I don't understand this legal jargon as I should, but that's the reality. I have people better than me looking after it.' Solicitors, he said, 'cost enough, you do have faith in them'. Much of the evidence on day two of the case focused on the nature of the sale. Mr Magnier was asked whether he was buying the land or the company that owned the Barne Estate when he offered €15 million for it. Mr Magnier said it was 'either/or', and he had an open mind about it. Mr Hayden asked Mr Magnier if he would still pay €15 million for the company if it transpired it had debts. 'I would leave it to the experts. You are putting hypothetical questions to me,' said Mr Magnier. The barrister countered: 'You are trying to convince people that you never made a decision in your life. We both know that is not true. Why do you need an expert to decide?' Mr Hayden said the option to buy the company rather than just the land only emerged in September when it was clear that an exclusivity agreement to buy the land had lapsed. Mr Magnier, therefore, had no enforceable contract to buy the land, the lawyer said. The case continues.
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Billionaire John Magnier tells court that some decisions are 'out of my pay grade'
Billionaire John Magnier has told the High Court that a cross-examining barrister was "trying to portray me as a bad guy" in a case where he claims he had agreed a deal to buy land in Co Tipperary that eventually failed when the owners later preferred a higher bidder. Mr Magnier on Wednesday also told the High Court that he employed experts in legal and financial fields because some advisory decisions were "out of my pay grade". Advertisement The founder of the world-famous Coolmore Stud also said that when he asked about what happened with his €15 million bid that he claims he had shaken hands on in 2023 but for which he was later out-bid, he was told by the estate agent involved: "One word, John: greed." Lawyers acting for Mr Magnier 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 €15 million. Mr Magnier's proceedings claim that Barne Estate, having reneged on the alleged deal, preferred 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 claims that Mr Regan's involvement and pursuit of the land breached an exclusivity agreement made on the purported deal between representatives of the estate and Mr Magnier. Advertisement 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 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 Magniers have 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. Advertisement The Barne defendants say there was never any such agreement and subsequently they preferred to sell the estate to Mr Regan. Mr Regan is not a party to the case. At the High Court, Mr Magnier confirmed his billionaire-class status in cross examination when asked by Martin Hayden SC, for the defence, by saying "I'd hope so – I've been fortunate". Mr Magnier said he was aware of a medical condition that was in need of treatment in the Thomson-Moore family and that they were selling the land in order to move to Australia to get better medical treatment for a family member. Advertisement Mr Magnier said he did not think the Thomson-Moore family were "greedy", that he dealt with them in a "fair and honourable way" and that the comment about alleged "greed" was something that was spoken to him by the estate agent. He told the court that he believed the Thomson-Moores could have been "misled" by Mr Regan in the deal, who Mr Magnier alleged, wanted to keep land prices in Tipperary down. Mr Magnier also told Mr Hayden that he did not think that the Thomson-Moores were behaving in a "greedy" manner when preferring Mr Regan's offering which was €7.25M in excess of his own. Mr Magnier told Mr Hayden that he left school at 15 with "not a very good education" and that he employed "experts" in legal and finance matters to aid his business decisions because it was "above my pay grade". Advertisement The billionaire was asked by Mr Heydon how much land he personally owned in Tipperary and answered said "very little" but that reports of him owning 20K acres were "totally false". Business John Magnier claims Maurice Regan is funding Barne... Read More Mr Magnier said that he has five children and 15 grandchildren, that his operation employs 1,300 people and that he would not do deals on distressed properties or people under duress to sell. When Mr Hayden asked about Mr Magnier's wealth, the billionaire said that money does not mean much to him but that it was a way to "keep the score" on "good and bad days" in business. Mr Paul Gallagher SC, for Mr Magnier, has said Mr Regan was "the man who started all this". Counsel said the US-based businessman had a "grandiose and mistaken" belief that the sale should not go ahead to Mr Magnier and set out to "destroy" the agreement to purchase Barne. The trial continues before Mr Justice Max Barrett.
