Waterford businessman sells castle estate

The Waterford businessman, Mr Eddie Kearns, who is currently selling Waterford Castle to a private business consortium, lost a Supreme Court appeal last July in a case where he was contesting paying capital gains tax on a sum of £2.5 million.

Mr Kearns, of Carriganore House, Killotteran, Co Waterford, was not available for comment. The Supreme Court case concerned a tax avoidance scheme involving options and transfers of shares which Mr Kearns and his wife, Mena, held in QK Coldstream Ltd. The case wasn't reported at the time.

Mr Kearns had appealed a High Court decision in 1993 where the court held that the receipt of £2.5 million by Mr Kearns in consideration of the abandonment of an option granted to him by his wife for her 11,000 company shares, constituted a disposal of assets for the purposes of the Capital Gains Tax Act, 1975.

As well as selling Waterford Castle, Mr Kearns is in the process of selling his 170acre estate at Killotteran in Waterford. The Waterford Institute of Technology has been given permission by the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Micheal Martin, to purchase 50 acres of the land, which is two to three miles from the institute's main campus.

Local TD, Minister of State Mr Martin Cullen, was involved in putting the institute and Mr Kearns in contact with each other and in lobbying Mr Martin for the necessary funding, according to a spokeswoman for Mr Cullen.

The institute has been given permission to become involved in a deal which would see it ending up with 50 acres, though a spokesman for the Department of Education would not elaborate.

"Since the vendor was only prepared to sell 170 acres as a single lot, the Minister was prepared to facilitate the institute by making funding available to meet the cost of the acquisition as a exceptional matter and subject to certain conditions relating to the institute's acquiring the appropriate area," he said. "The net acquisition should be 50 acres."

The land is to be used for recreational purposes by the institute. The spokesman would not disclose the price being paid for the land other than to say it was in line with the advice of the government valuation office.

A planned membership buy-out of the Waterford Castle Golf Club from its owners, Smurfit Ireland, for £2 million, foundered in April when it emerged Smurfit Ireland and Mr Kearns were selling the island on which the club and Waterford Castle Hotel are based, to a private consortium. The consortium is understood to be offering £5 million.

Mr Kearns is the major stakeholder in the hotel and some 60 acres of island land. He is believed to be availing of a joint marketing agreement set up between him and Smurfit in 1996 under which the joint properties have been on the market, since then, for a target price of £6 million.

The sale of the island is "on the point of completion. It is almost done", according to a solicitor acting for the consortium, Mr Fergus Appleby, of PJ O'Driscoll, solicitors, Bandon, Co Cork. He would not disclose the names of the consortium.

A spokeswoman for Smurfit Ireland said the company expects the deal to be signed before August 5th.