Fund raises its ICG stake to 5.36%

Buchanan Holdings, a Jersey-registered investment fund, spent €3 million earlier this week to increase its shareholding in Irish Continental Group (ICG) to 5.36 per cent.

The fund, headed by financier Dermot Killeen, paid €24.98 a share on Wednesday for 119,627 units of ICG stock.

Although registered offshore, Buchanan is managed from the IFSC in Dublin by Mr Killeen, who is also a director of a company called Bigferries Ltd. It has been stakebuilding in ICG for several months.

The trading was disclosed to the market yesterday, but had no impact on ICG's price, which closed unchanged at €25.

ICG is the subject of two €22 a share bids from Moonduster, a consortium comprising Philip Lynch's One51 Capital and the Cork-based Doyle shipping group, and Aella, a management buyout bid led by ICG's chief executive Eamonn Rothwell.

Both parties have been given until August 17th by the independent directors to make an offer that will break the current stalemate in the bidding process.

Property developer Liam Carroll also owns 17.6 per cent of ICG, but he has not made a bid. Mr Carroll held talks recently with Moonduster about acquiring the One51/Doyle stake in ICG, but the parties were unable to agree a deal.

At One51's agm yesterday, Mr Lynch said the group will not sell its stake. "We'll go on to try and acquire it, there's no doubt about it," he told shareholders. "We didn't come in to finish up where we are."