CMC Investments, the property vehicle owned by Fyffes's McCann family, has become embroiled in a lawsuit in the United States concerning an office block the company acquired last year in Baltimore.

The building, which was sold for an undisclosed amount, but probably in the region of $10 million (€7 million), was offloaded by Stone & Associates.

It was the second property acquisition the McCanns had made in Maryland, following CMC's $41 million (€28.7 million) purchase in 2004 of a 300,000 sq ft office building, also in Baltimore.

The agent charged last year with selling the building on West Pratt Street in Baltimore, Colliers Pinkard, recently filed a lawsuit against Stone & Associates seeking the payment of what it claimed were outstanding consulting and marketing fees of $226,000 in relation to the sale.

Stone & Associates later filed a suit against Colliers Pinkard alleging it had failed to disclose that it was assisting CMC in sourcing suitable investment properties in Baltimore.

Stone & Associates claims that Colliers Pinkard only performed the "bare minimum" of work to find a buyer for the Pratt Street building, which it further alleges ensured CMC could buy the office block at a lower price than if additional potential buyers had been sourced.

The court case is due to begin next week.

Last year, Fyffes spun off its property assets to form Blackrock International Land.

Earlier this month both Fyffes and its other spin-off, Total Produce, announced that they had formed a joint venture to pay a total of €25 million to acquire 135 acres of land in Dublin.