IAWS, the agri-business group, has sold its unoccupied site at Thorncastle Street, Dublin 4, for £4 million, to a joint venture company in which it will have a 50 per cent stake.

The joint-venture partner is Morrison Homes, the residential division of the Morrison Construction Group, a publicly quoted Scottish company. The deal is subject to the granting of planning permission. IAWS had already applied to build 114 apartments.

IAWS group chief executive, Mr Philip Lynch, said the development will be located on a "riverside setting at the confluence of the rivers Liffey and Dodder adjacent to the East Link Bridge".

The book value of the site is £553,000 so the deal will give IAWS an exceptional gain of around £3.5 million, in its next profit-and-loss account. The equity in the new company will be £4 million. IAWS should get its equity back from the investment plus its share of profits from the development which could cost between £15 million and £20 million.

These profits are unlikely to have a significant impact on IAWS's profits which are expected to top £25 million this year.

The apartments will sell for well in excess of £100,000 each and the development is unlikely to start before the beginning of next year.