Developer Seán Dunne has taken an aggressive stance in the battle for Jurys Doyle by buying a block of shares at €19.50, some 60 cent above the price of this week's approach by the Doyle-led consortium.

Mr Dunne picked up about 100,000 shares in Jurys yesterday afternoon at a significant premium to this week's trading levels. The move suggests the developer is serious about mounting a competing bid for the hotel group.

It also implies that Mr Dunne is very unlikely to willingly accept a takeover at €18.90 per share, thus placing a large question mark over his €260 million acquisition of Jurys lands at Ballsbridge in Dublin.

While he is unlikely to launch an approach on his own, it is thought Mr Dunne is looking at a move in conjunction with a private-equity group.

A number of private-equity companies are known to have been circling Jurys for some time, with real estate experts Blackstone and Orion seen as the main candidates.

Sources say Orion is the most likely partner for Mr Dunne, with Blackstone historically showing more appetite for friendly approaches.

Any approach from Mr Dunne is likely to top €20, thus valuing Jurys at close to €1.3 billion.

Yesterday's purchase lifts Mr Dunne's stake in Jurys Doyle close to 28 per cent. He is believed to be keen to raise his position to 29.9 per cent, the size of the stake held by the Doyle sisters: Bernie Gallagher, Eileen Monahan and Ann Roche.

The Doyles joined fellow large long-standing shareholders, the Beatty family and Elizabeth Nelson, to launch an approach for Jurys last weekend. The consortium, which controls 42 per cent of Jurys, said it would pay almost €1.2 billion for the company.

The independent directors at Jurys said that they would be prepared to recommend a bid at €18.90 if it came without pre-conditions.

While the consortium's approach could be successful without Mr Dunne's support, the families would not be able to take Jurys private against his will.

The stand-off between Mr Dunne and the consortium will come to a partial head next Tuesday when Jurys will hold an extraordinary general meeting to consider the Ballsbridge site sale to Mr Dunne.

The Doyle sisters claim to have not yet decided how they will vote on the deal, but it is within the power of their consortium to block it. If the site is not sold, the consortium will have to seek additional funding to back its bid because they will be unable to rely on the €260 million in cash Mr Dunne was due to pay.

Shares in Jurys gained 15 cent yesterday, closing at €18.75.