Seen & Heard: Cairn Homes in talks to buy Argentum’s assets

According to the Sunday Times, the publicly quoted house-builder Cairn Homes is in talks to buy the development assets of Argenum Property Holding, a joint venture between Australian investment fund Anchorage and builder Newlyn for up to €75 million.

Argentum’s assets include a three-hectare site on Griffith Avenue in Marin, Dublin. It was bought from the Christian Brothers and has planning for 101 dwellings comprising houses and apartments.

Elswher in the Times it is reported that Nualight, a green tech company backed by the ESB and the family of former senator Fergal Quinn, shifted production of its energy-saving light fittings from Ireland to Poland and Mexico to cut costs, according to accounts filed by the compnay.

The company said that sales fell 8.5 per cent while costs increased producing a loss before exceptional items of €3.1 million.

The Sunday Independent reports that Irish banks are to avoid paying interest to Nama despite the interest rate on the agency's senior debt turning negative earlier this week. Market estimates put the saving a just over €5 million over the next six months, when the interest rate on the debt will set again. The debt was issued to banks in exchange for problem loans during the crash.

The Independent also reports that a lawyer for NI businessman Frank Cushnahan wrote to Nama chairman Frank Daly on January 25th last, strongly denying any conflicts of interest between Mr Cushnahan's role on the agency's Northern Ireland advisory committee and Mr Cushnahan's own business interests.

The future of hundreds of small businesses and farmers is hanging in the balance, according to the Sunday Business Post, as Ulster Bank prepares the ground for a multi-billion euro loan sale.

The RBS-owned lender confirmed that it is considering the sale of a book of toxic debts connected to hundreds of borrowers and worth billions of euros. Market sources said that the face value of the loans could be as high as €6 billion.

Elsewhere in the Post it is reported that Magnet Networks has closed a deal estimated to be worth €16 million to acquire telecommunications network Imagine.

The company will now assume responsibility for providing services to the former Imagine customers.

Coolmore America's Ashford Stud has acquired the 725 acre Waterford Farm near Midway in Kentucky for €9 million, the Post says. Deed transfers filed on February 19th show that Shenton a British Virgin Islands corporation made the purchase in two transactions. Shenton Business gives its address as John Magnier's Stud in Versailles Kentucky, where Coolmore owns a stud of 2,000 acres