A PUBLICLY QUOTED property company with a portfolio of about £80 million could be created through the proposed reverse takeover of Dunloe House by Monarch Properties and Aviette.
Dunloe shares were suspended yesterday at the company's request pending the completion of a deal with Monarch and Aviette, a private company owned by Dunloe chairman, Mr Noel Smyth and his family.
The enlarged group is expected to praise funds, possibly through a rights issue. Spokesmen for the companies declined to discuss the size of the fundraising or the board and management structure involved. Details had yet to be decided, they said. The shares were suspended at 35p.
The deal is subject to due diligence examination and shareholder approval. It involves the amalgamation of the property portfolios of Dunloe and Aviette with most of Monarch's properties. On completion, Mr Philip Monahan, of Monarch, should own just under 20 per cent of the enlarged company. Mr Noel Smyth, who now owns 40.7 per cent of Dunloe, would see his stake in the enlarged company fall to 30 per cent. Mr Monahan's partner in Monarch, Mr Dominick Glennane, would own just under 5 per cent of the enlarged Dunloe.
The board of Dunloe has agreed to acquire a number of properties owned by Monarch and Aviette. Because the property portfolio being acquired is larger than Dunloe's existing portfolio, the deal is a reverse takeover of Dunloe. The properties involved include Bloomfields in Dun Laoghaire, Cherrywood in Loughlinstown and units at Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Rathfarnham, The Square in Tallaght and Westside Shopping Centre in Galwav.
Dunloe's portfolio is valued at about £30 million when the recently acquired Mill Centre in Clondalkin is included. The property being acquired is valued at about £50 million, giving the enlarged group a portfolio worth about £80 million.
Monarch, which recently completed the £20 million Bloomfields shopping centre in Dun Laoghaire, has been interested in achieving a stock market quotation for some time.
Monarch talked to Dunloe as far back as 1992 when Dunloe was 77 per cent owned by British company, Clayform.
In 1993, former Dunnes Stores executive chairman, Mr Ben Dunne spent £900,000 to buy 75 per cent of loss making Dunloe at 6.75p a share. In 1995, Mr Dunne sold out to Mr Smyth, who already had a 15 per cent stake in Dunloe, for 5p per share. After a £3.5 million rights issue and a complex restructuring, Mr Smyth's stake was reduced to 42 per cent.
Announcing 1996 results yesterday, Dunloe said it was considering a number of "attractive offers" for the sale of its industrial warehouses at Airways Industrial Estate. Pretax profits of £206,967 compared with a loss of £36,600 for 1995.
