An unnamed Saudi investor is in the hunt for strategic lands at Dublin Airport, as bidders press for reassurance about access to the runways and the road network.
With prickly legal questions under discussion about the right to use critical national infrastructure from private lands, the sale is now unlikely to conclude for several weeks.
Vendors led by brothers UIick and Des McEvaddy have told prospective buyers they will take second-round bids in November, delaying a process that had been expected to culminate in early autumn.
The McEvaddys and co-owners put the 105-hectare airport site up for sale in May, hoping to realise €210 million or more from land between the runways that is crucial to the future of the State’s main air transport hub.
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[ DAA’s €75m bid for land between runways rejected by ownersOpens in new window ]
The bidders are known to include billionaire brothers Brian and Luke Comer – the Co Galway property developers who control the Comer Group – and an American private equity firm. There was no comment from the Comers.
They now face the prospect of a competing bid from an investor in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East kingdom synonymous with vast oil wealth.
That investor’s identity remains unclear, leaving open the question of whether the bid is backed by the Saudi state or royal family or one of their many commercial groups.
Responding to questions about sale, the McEvaddys said: “There is interest from a credible Saudi Arabian entity.” No further information was provided.
The confirmation of Saudi interest comes weeks after the State-owned Dublin Airport Authority was eliminated when the vendors said its bid of some €75 million was “not acceptable and therefore rejected”.
[ What does the McEvaddy land sale mean for the future of Dublin Airport?Opens in new window ]
The DAA has serious concerns as a public body about the risk overpaying for farmland with no planning approval, even though the property is zoned for airport use and seen as the most obvious site for a third terminal.
As talks continue, bidders have urged the vendors to provide comfort about the right to access to the DAA’s runways and roads in north Co Dublin.
In the opening phase of the sale, the vendors provided a senior counsel’s opinion on runway access that they commissioned.
That paper cited a European case that underlined the right of private landowners to access State infrastructure if it is deemed necessary for the public interest.
[ DAA submits 500-page dossier to An Bord Pleanála over night flight restrictionsOpens in new window ]
However, bidders pushed for more detail. An updated legal opinion is now said to be in preparation.
Bidders have also examined the viability and potential barriers to new road links between the subject lands and the Cherryhound M2 motorway interchange. That question raises questions for property owners in that area, as their stance will be critical.
Bidders are proceeding on the basis that the already heavy use of existing airport motorways will necessitate new roads via the Cherryhound interchange.
That aligns with the view that the expanding airport will soon exceed permitted passenger levels, strengthening the case for a new terminal. Still, senior airport figures insist another terminal won’t be needed for 20 years because DAA plans are sufficient.
