The extraordinary general meeting (egm) at Jurys Doyle will begin as planned today, with the company's chairman, Richard Hooper, not expected to seek an adjournment.
As of last night, Mr Hooper had received no shareholder requests for the meeting to be deferred and he was not planning to ask for a delay on behalf of Jurys.
It was, however, still possible that a late request for an adjournment could be made and thus considered this morning.
The most likely source of such a request would be a member of the Doyle-led consortium that has made a takeover approach.
It is understood Mr Hooper is keen for the meeting to proceed in full so that the current stalemate at the hotel group can be broken. The egm has been called to consider the sale of almost five acres at Ballsbridge in Dublin to developer Sean Dunne in a deal worth €260 million.
Mr Dunne is not permitted to vote on the sale in respect of his 27.8 per cent stake in Jurys, so the deal's success is dependent on the approval of the Doyle and Beatty families, who control about 40 per cent of the company. Together with Elizabeth Nelson, who has a 2.4 per cent stake, the families have made a takeover approach to Jurys at €18.90 per share.
While Walter Beatty Jnr and Mrs Nelson have said they will support the land sale in respect of their small shareholdings, the remaining members of the Doyle-led consortium have not revealed how they will vote.
They have indicated they would approve the deal if they could rely on Mr Dunne's support for their takeover.
The developer has, however, refused to commit to this. Instead, he has taken an aggressive stance by buying blocks of shares in Jurys at levels well above the price the consortium says it will offer for the company.
Any request for an adjournment would be designed to allow the Doyle consortium and Mr Dunne more time to reach an accommodation that would allow the company to be taken private.
The two sides have so far not engaged on a meaningful level.
Mr Dunne is abroad at the moment and will be represented at the egm by his solicitors, Matheson Ormsby Prentice.
He has said he could make a bid for Jurys Doyle himself and has sought corporate finance advice on the matter. His most likely backer would be a private equity fund, with a number of such entities closely monitoring developments.
Sources said yesterday, however, that while the developer may still make an approach to Jurys, he would be prepared to sell his stake and thus approve a takeover if the offer topped €19.50. Mr Dunne bought 100,000 shares at this level last week.
Shares in Jurys were quiet yesterday, falling 25 cent to €18.55.
