Ibis hotel at Red Cow at heart of row between two groups of former owners

A dispute between two groups over an alleged breach of an agreement to divide up the assets of joint ventures they previously owned, including the Ibis Red Cow Hotel, has come before the High Court.

Duddy Hospitality Ireland Holdings Limited, Brendan Duddy and Lawrence Duddy – all part of the Duddy Group – have sued Propiteer Ireland Holdings Limited, Dadac Ltd, Propiteer Ltd, Colin Sandy and David Marshall, which are all part of the Propiteer group.

The two groups were partners in several joint ventures, including the Red Cow Hotel, a hotel in Exeter, England, and developments in Dublin and Belfast.

Differences emerged between them in 2019, and it was decided they should part ways and divide up the shared assets. In 2020 they entered settlement agreements regarding various assets they had jointly held, it is claimed. As part of these arrangements the Duddy group would get ownership and control of the Ibis Red Cow Hotel and related companies, the group claims.

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The Duddy group alleges in its High Court proceedings that the Propiteer group has breached the agreements, acquiring the Ibis companies’ secured borrowings from a third party and purportedly appointing receivers over certain assets, including the hotel.

The Duddy group has also sued the receivers – insolvency practitioners Ken Fennell and Andrew O’Leary of Interpath Ireland – asking the court to require them to cease acting as receivers over the assets.

It is also alleged that the defendant group has sought to remove directors from the boards of two of companies associated with the hotel and are seeking to replace them with their own nominees. The Duddy group claims that the defendants are not entitled to do this and seeks orders preventing any changes to the companies’ boards.

The Duddy Group claims the defendants “regret” allowing the Duddy group to acquire the hotel after seeing how well it has been performing.

The plaintiffs, represented by Brendan Kirwan SC and Neal Flynn, instructed by Flynn O’Driscoll LLP, are seeking various orders including injunctions preventing any alteration to the boards of, or the removal of any directors of, companies involved in the running of the Red Cow Hotel.

The plaintiffs also seek an order preventing the appointment of named individuals to the boards of the same companies.

If granted, those orders will remain in place until the main proceedings, where the Duddy group seeks orders including the specific performance of the agreements allegedly entered into by the parties in 2020, have been determined by the court.

Ms Justice Eileen Roberts granted the plaintiffs permission, on an ex-parte basis, to serve short notice of the injunction proceedings on the defendants. The matter was made returnable to a date later this month.