TWO SHAREHOLDERS in Herbertstown Stud have brought court proceedings to compel another shareholder to honour alleged agreements for the purchase of their shares for more than €3.1 million.
Solicitors for Desmond Swan had in correspondence last December indicated that Mr Swan was unable to raise the necessary finance to complete the deal, the court heard.
The proceedings, admitted to the Commercial Court this week by Mr Justice Peter Kelly, have been brought by Matthew Maher, Kilteel, Rathmore, Co Kildare, and Dermot Murphy, Greenlea Road, Terenure, Dublin, against Mr Swan, The Nightingales, Pollardstown, the Curragh, Co Kildare.
All three are shareholders and directors of Herbertstown Stud Ltd, which is involved in bloodstock breeding and rents at its 180-acre property in Co Kildare.
The dispute relates to agreements of February 6th, 2008, allegedly entered into by the plaintiffs with Mr Swan, allegedly acting through Herbertstown chairman Con Callanan as agent, for the purchase of Mr Maher’s shareholding for €1.8 million and Mr Murphy’s shareholding for €1.36 million.
It is claimed the sales were to have been completed by March 14th, 2008. It is also claimed that Mr Callanan had entered into an agreement to sell his own shareholding to Mr Swan for €1.31 million, also by that date, and that Mr Swan had paid deposits of €10,000 cash to all three men under the alleged agreements.
The plaintiffs claim Mr Swan failed to complete the purchase of their shareholdings as agreed, and that they tried on March 15th to schedule a meeting of the Herbertstown board to address the alleged breaches. It is claimed that, at a board meeting on April 10th, it was decided to sell the Herbertstown property at auction with a reserve price of €12 million and the plaintiffs agreed that without prejudice to their claims against Mr Swan.
The Herbertstown property was withdrawn at auction on June 25th after the reserve price was not reached and the plaintiffs claim they then decided to allow time for receipt of potential offers to buy the property. When no such offers were forthcoming, they instructed solicitors to take legal action.
It is claimed solicitors for Mr Swan had last November said there was no need to take legal action for the moment and they wanted a reasonable opportunity to address the issues raised by the plaintiffs’ solicitors.
It is claimed Mr Swan’s solicitors had in December written that there was no point in pursuing the proceedings in the current economic climate, that he did not have the assets to acquire the plaintiffs’ shares in Herbertstown and could not raise the necessary finance even if he was obliged to do so. It was also claimed there was no binding agreement between the sides.
