The Doyle family-led consortium is claiming to have won control of the Jurys Doyle hotel group.
The JDH consortium, which has 46.2 per cent of the company, claims to also have "irrevocable votes of 1.75 per cent" and "options of 2.16 per cent" which it claims brings the "total stock owned or controlled by JDH Acquisitions Plc to 50.1 per cent".
A spokesman said it wasn't possible for another shareholder to wrest control from the group and that they will continue to build their stake further in the weeks ahead to hasten the outcome. The consortium has bid for the company at €18.90.
Yesterday it emerged that David Doyle, the estranged brother of Bernadette Gallagher, Anne Roche and Eileen Monahan, who are the principles in JDH, also retains a modest shareholding in Jurys Doyle.
It is understood that JDH has not approached him with a view to buying his shares. The size of his stake is unclear, with some sources putting it at less than 1 per cent, but others claiming he could hold up to 3 per cent.
Mr Doyle was not commenting yesterday and his ultimate intentions remain unclear. Mr Doyle and his sisters fell out in the mid-nineties over the future direction of the company, founded by their father the late PV Doyle.
Yesterday Jurys Doyle shares closed 5 cent better at €19.15 amid continuing speculation about the intentions of Sean Dunne, the property developer who is to pay €260 million for the Jurys hotel site in Ballsbridge and controls 28 per cent of Jurys Doyle shares.
Another developer, Liam Carroll has a further 9 per cent, and businessman Paschal Taggart this week took a 2 per cent shareholding. There has been speculation that either Mr Dunne or Mr Carroll could launch a bid for the group.
Mr Dunne is said to have held discussions with private equity house Orion but market sources are increasingly seeing a rival bid as unlikely.
JDH made its formal offer for the group on Wednesday. The Beatty family and another director, Elizabeth Nelson, join the Doyle family in the bid.
The consortium has 26 days from Wednesday to issue a formal offer document but the group, which is being advised by Goldman Sachs, is expected to move before that deadline expires. The independent directors at Jurys have backed its offer.
