The Cork-based Doyle shipping group has acquired warehousing company Moyglare Holdings for some €36 million, trumping a bid from property developer Liam Carroll.
The Doyle group and Mr Carroll are major players in a takeover battle for the ferry operator Irish Continental Group (ICG) and this deal is seen as a coup for the Cork shipping company.
Moyglare has a five-acre site in Ringaskiddy, Cork, and some 3.8 acres in Dublin Port, which it operates under a long lease.
Both sites offer development potential. Bids were also submitted by Origin, the quoted company that was spun off from agri group IAWS in June, and a consortium from the North.
Moyglare's most recent set of accounts, for the year to the end of July 2006, valued the com-pany's assets at €2.6 million after depreciation, and showed retained profits of €1.5 million.
Moyglare is based at Dublin Port, where it has terminal facilities. It also has land and dry bulk-handling operations at Ring-askiddy. The company handles a range of commodities, including wheat and grain.
The sale of Moyglare was handled by accounting firm Grant Thornton.
The Doyle group, along with the Philip Lynch-led One51 Capital, is part of the Moonduster consortium seeking to gain control of ICG.
Moonduster owns 20.38 per cent of ICG and earlier this summer offered €22 a share for the ferry company. That bid has since been trumped by a €24-a-share offer from Aella, a management bid led by ICG chief executive Eamonn Rothwell.
Mr Carroll, meanwhile, has been busily stakebuilding in ICG for several months. The developer informed the stock market yesterday that he had acquired an additional 6,310 shares in the ferry group at €25 apiece.
He now owns 19.94 per cent of the company, although he has not lodged a bid for ICG. The shares are held by a company called South Morston Investment company, which Mr Carroll owns with his wife Róisín.
Mr Carroll is believed to be interested in the development potential of ICG's 33-acre site at Dublin Port, which the company operates under a long lease.
ICG was yesterday given High Court approval to convene a meeting of shareholders to seek approval for a scheme allowing the firm be taken over by Aella.
ICG's directors sought High Court approval to have the meetings convened so that shareholders can decide whether to accept or reject the takeover bid by Aella. Mr Justice George Birmingham said that it was appropriate to make the orders being sought.
Aella will have to secure 75 per cent approval for its bid but will not be able to vote its 20.9 per cent shareholding.
This means either Moonduster or Mr Carroll could effectively block the takeover bid. Neither side has commented on its voting intentions.
