Cork businessman Mr Frank Boland has spent £124,250 sterling (€208.000) on 325,000 shares in the Anglo-Irish property group Howard Holdings. Mr Boland is a non-executive director of Howard Holdings, but this is his first investment in the company's shares and he now holds a 1.2 per cent stake. This is the second time in a week that an Irish director of Howard has bought shares. Last week, the former director of Kingspan Group, Mr Brendan Murtagh, spent more than £1 million sterling on 2.27 million shares to bring his stake in Howard to 24.8 per cent. The moves will fuel speculation that Mr Murtagh, Mr Boland and other directors may be planning to take the firm private.