BLOODSTOCK BILLIONAIRE AND farmer John Magnier has told the High Court that he was outbid on land he claims he had already agreed to buy in Co Tipperary, and when he inquired about the deal’s failure, the estate agent involved told him: “One word, John: greed.”

Magnier took the stand today at a packed High Court hearing to give evidence in his and his family’s action against the owners of a tract of land in Tipperary.

Magnier said that he shook hands with the owners in an agreement to buy the land in 2023, only for the deal to fall through.

Lawyers acting for the founder of the world-famous Coolmore Stud have claimed before the High Court that a US-based construction magnate Maurice Regan, the preferred buyer, engaged in a “full-frontal assault” on Magnier’s claimed deal to buy 751 acres of land in Tipperary for €15 million.

Magnier’s proceedings, which opened this morning and are expected to last three weeks, claim that Barne Estate, having reneged on the alleged deal, preferred to sell the land at the higher price of €22.5 million to Regan, the founder of the New York building firm JT Magen.

In opening the case today before Mr Justice Max Barrett, Paul Gallagher SC, for the Magniers, claimed that Regan’s pursuit of the land breached an exclusivity agreement made on the purported deal between representatives of the estate and Magnier.

Magnier – along with his adult children, John Paul Magnier and Kate Wachman – wants to enforce the alleged deal.

They say the deal was struck at a meeting on 22 August 2023 at Magnier’s Coolmore Stud.

They also claim an exclusivity agreement that was in effect from 31 August to 30 September stipulated that the estate would not permit its representatives to solicit or encourage any expression of interest, inquiry or offer on the property from anyone other than Magnier.

Barne Estate had been held for the benefit of Richard Thomson-Moore and others by a Jersey trust.

The Magniers have sued the Barne Estate, Thomson-Moore and three companies of IQEQ (Jersey) Ltd group, seeking to enforce the purported deal which they say had been “unequivocally” agreed.

The Barne defendants say there was never any such agreement and subsequently they preferred to sell the estate to Regan.

Regan is not a party to the case.

In his evidence, Magnier told his counsel, Paul Gallagher SC, that when he enquired about what happened to the failed deal that the estate agent involved told him “one word, John: greed”.

Magnier said he wanted to do an “off-market, private” deal to purchase the farm, and put in a bid of €10 million, followed by a bid of €11.25 million.

The billionaire said that an eventual deal for €15 million was agreed on 22 August 2023, at Coolmore and that “everybody involved was happy” with the arrangement.

As Magnier was giving evidence on the details of the August 2023 deal, counsel for the defence, Martin Hayden SC, interrupted asking if Magnier was reading from something.

Magnier said he was not but had his statement with him and passed it down from the witness box telling Hayden “come here, you can keep it, that’s a bit unfair I think.”

Magnier said that he wanted certainty on the deal and that even though there was a guide price of €13.5 million on the land, he was willing to pay €15 million, which was a “premium” for knowing he could get a deal through.

Magnier said one condition of the sale concerned a question of giving a contract to an employee on the farm who, it was feared, might not complete the harvest if knowledge of the deal came out.

Magnier said the contract stipulation was “a bit odd” and that the employee “mustn’t really like me, that’s for sure”.

Magnier said that he was told by Thomson-Moore that some people were coming to view the land the day after the alleged deal, but that they would be told the farm was already sold.

The witness said the estate agent “the next day” came into his Coolmore office and said that he had received “dog’s abuse” about the agreement from Regan and had “never been treated like that in his life”.

Magnier said that he knew the deal was “in trouble” when monies paid by him at the initial stages of the transaction were returned by the estate agent in September 2023, which he found “strange”.

Magnier alleged the owners were “dragging their feet” on the deal and that progress to complete the deal was not possible even though the €15 million had been transferred to a solicitor in preparation for a transfer in “good faith”.

Magnier said the exclusivity on the deal had run out in September 2023, and he wanted to resolve matters and, if possible, avoid going to court.

“This is my first day here, in court, ever,” he said.

Earlier today, Gallagher told the court that Regan allegedly arranged for crime journalist Paul Williams to contact the estate agent.

“The implication was that his [Regan’s] exclusion from the bidding process was somehow unlawful,” said Gallagher.

Gallagher said Regan was “the man who started all this”. Counsel said the US-based businessman had a “grandiose and mistaken” belief that the sale should not go ahead to Magnier and set out to “destroy” the agreement to purchase Barne.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Barrett and is to be moved to a larger courtroom.