A Melbourne-based property group owned by Irishman Tony Brady and his family have emerged as the preferred bidder for former billionaire Seán Quinn’s once-prized Slieve Russell hotel, golf and country club, according to the Sunday Times.
The Brady Group, one of Australia’s largest private property development companies, is said to have bid below the €35 million asking price set by agents when the Cavan resort was put on the market in April on behalf of the liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC).
Mr Brady emigrated to Australia from Cavan as a bricklayer in 1973, the same year that Mr Quinn started out in business quarrying cement on his family farm in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh. IBRC, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, seized Quinn assets following the financial crash as it attempted to recover €2.88 billion owed by the family.
The report said Mr Brady, who is in his 70s, is keen to buy a property in his native country. It added that the Brady Group did not respond to a request for comment on the deal. Mr Quinn is also understood to have made a bid for the Slieve Russell, it added.
UK fund selling Irish telecom assets at deep discount
The Sunday Times also reported that UK investment fund Digital 9 Infrastructure, which is being wound down, is in advanced discussions to sell two Irish telecommunications assets at deep discounts to the €329 million level at which they are valued on its books.
Shareholders in D9 voted in March to wind down the business after a troubled UK acquisition. The following month, it put its Irish units, Elio Networks, previously known as Host Ireland, and Aqua Comms on the market. Elio was valued by the company at £55 million (€65 million) in December, while Aqua Comms was valued at £222.5 million.
The newspaper said that a European private equity firm is in talks to buy the firms, which had also fielded interest from Cubic Telecom and Northern Ireland-based Fibrus.
Collison-backed Weston Airport plans upgrade to lure business from Dublin
The owners of Weston Airport, including Stripe co-founder John Collison, are planning a €40 million investment to install instrument landing capabilities at the facility in a bid to lure business jet traffic away from Dublin Airport, according to the Sunday Independent.
The new system and procedures, which would allow aircraft to use the airport at night and during bad weather, are seen as crucial to be in a position to compete for private jet activity. Weston is currently working with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to reinstate instrument landing procedures that lapsed during the pandemic.
The new system is planned to be in place well before the Dublin-based search-and-rescue helicopter moves to Weston in June next year, according to the report.
The airport was bought in 2021 by a consortium of investors that included Collison and Limerick-based financier Derick Walshe, as well as John Brennan, Catherine Greene and Gerald Dundon.
Emirates boss says Dublin Airport cap hits its growth plans
The Business Post reported that Dubai airline group Emirates has warned that the Dublin Airport passenger cap has killed its interest in expanding services from here.
The carrier’s country manager for Ireland, Anita Thomas, said that while Emirates would ordinarily be looking to grow in Dublin – from which it operates two daily flights and carries 10,000 passengers between the capital and Dubai a week – the cap “negates the opportunity”.
The 32 million passenger cap has been in place for 17 years and Dublin Airport operator DAA has warned it will be exceeded this year. A back-and-forth between the DAA and Fingal County Council about increasing the cap to 40 million a year has been continuing since November 2023.
A report during the summer said that less than 3 per cent of requests by airlines for new slots at Dublin Airport this winter have been successful, amid the restriction, the report highlighted.