ALL THE big bidders were farmers when a country estate valued at €16 million just a year ago was sold yesterday for €6.075 million – a 75 per cent drop from the original asking price.
The 550-acre Castle Annaghs estate in south Co Kilkenny was bought at public auction by Liam Sheily, a west Cork dairy farmer.
Bidders flocked to the sale at the Mount Brandon Hotel in New Ross, after the owner reduced the guide price by €8.5 million to an “advised minimum value” of just €7.5 million. However that figure was not reached.
Auctioneer Anne Carton, of the firm PN O’Gorman, interrupted the auction twice to consult the seller by telephone.
She later confirmed that “all the bidders were Irish farmers which is great for the land market and proves that there’s still a future in farming”.
Ms Carton described the estate as “a magnificent 10,000sq ft Georgian house on 550 acres of top quality agricultural land with two miles of river Barrow frontage and the ruins of a 16th century castle.” The new owner will also inherit a milk quota of 174,000 gallons.
The sale price includes a three-bedroom gate lodge, a three-bedroom steward’s house and a four-bedroom grooms’ house.
Speaking to The Irish Times immediately after the sale, the successful bidder Mr Sheily said “it was a big price for it”.
A Tipperary farmer had opened the bidding with an offer of €3 million and the price crept up during a grindingly slow sale.
The estate was sold by Catanga, a Lichtenstein-registered company owned by a wealthy German family, the Jebens, who live in Hamburg.
They bought the property for £60,000 in 1962.
The estate was initially up for sale by tender in spring last year with a price tag of €16 million.