If you feel like splashing out on a Dolce & Gabbana dress, a pair of Jimmy Choo stilettos or a Tiffany diamond while hanging out in Beverly Hills, Two Rodeo Drive is your dream destination. Its artificial inside street is also lined with Porsche Design and Breguet shopfronts, while Versace occupies the central store fronted by monumental mock antique pillars.

The Californian shopping complex is owned by Sloane Two Rodeo LLC, a company registered in the US state of Delaware and managed by an agent in the Isle of Man. Its correspondence address is c/o Sloane Guardian SA, 63 rue du Rhône, Geneva, Switzerland.

This address points to a dark city-centre office block off Geneva’s lakefront, a stone’s throw away from the city’s main sights – the flower clock and the jet d’eau. This is also one of the two addresses registered by John Magnier and his wife Sue for their directorships of Irish companies. The other one is at a chalet-styled residential apartment block in the exclusive Swiss ski resort of Verbier.

Company documents such as those filed by Sloane Two Rodeo LLC offer a great way of travelling without leaving your seat. Navigating the corporate maze built by Magnier, his family and associates took me from Caribbean sand beaches to the colder waters of Jersey and the Isle of Man. The trip included luxury hotels, fine dining, the sights of landmark buildings from Cashel to London, and of course the thrill of horse racing. 

The Swiss office is a good starting point to explore the most remote corners of Magnier’s global empire. From there, a team of corporate advisors with Norwegian national Ornulf Loebekken at its centre administer a network of companies, two of which are named after Magnier’s birthplace at Grange Stud in Fermoy, Co Cork. He founded Grange Services SA in 1998 before handing over the company’s chair to Eddie Irwin three years later. We will meet Irwin, the finance director of the Coolmore racehorse group, on many occasions during this journey.

“A family office investing in all asset classes”

Meanwhile, Magnier has remained chair of Grange Investments SA, a separate company registered at his home address in Verbier, since its registration in 2001. Paul Murphy, a director of multiple companies associated with Magnier’s son-in-law David Wachmann, describes himself  on his LinkedIn profile as a director of Grange Investments SA, a “family office investing across all asset classes”. He lists a series of “successful” investments and exits in UK residential care businesses since he joined Grange Investments SA in 2004.

Click on the image below to enlarge the map of the Magnier family’s corporate structure.

Swiss-based Loebekken is a director of the Sandy Lane luxury beach resort in Barbados, where Magnier is known to escape from the depths of European winter and which he co-owns with Dermot Desmond and JP McManus. McManus’s point man Tim Otway is also a director of the company holding the Two Rodeo Drive shopping centre mentioned above.

From Geneva, Loebekken also sits on the board of British Virgin Islands-registered Shenton Business Ltd, the vehicle used in the US to acquire the 725ac Waterford stud farm in Kentucky three years ago. This was an expansion on Magnier’s existing 2,000ac Ashford Stud a few minutes’ drive away. Ashford is held through Bemak NV, a company registered in the Netherlands Antilles. The two farms in the heart of Bluegrass country, famed for its grazing land, bloodstock and bourbon, form the key American link in the family’s Coolmore thoroughbred success story.

Investing in the UK with Dermot Desmond and JP McManus

Magnier has used Acomita Investments, another British Virgin Islands-registered company hosted by Grange Services in Geneva, to conduct major investments in the past 15 years. In the UK, Acomita owns Blackwood Stratton Company Ltd., a vehicle conducting business for the Sutton Scotney estate sold to Magnier for a reported €52 million in 2017. Another agricultural company in Hampshire, Blackwood Farming Ltd, also founded in 2017, is held through a cascade of Irish companies and reports John Magnier as its ultimate controlling shareholder. The focus of Magnier’s English farming interests is grain production.

Previously, Magnier had used Acomita Investments since 2004 to build his stake in Grove Ltd, the Jersey-based holding company for the Barchester healthcare group operating throughout the UK. Acomita currently holds 8.3 per cent of Grove, and the Brumoy Partnership, another Magnier family entity, an additional 9.8 per cent.

Magnier, along with Barchester co-investors Dermot Desmond and JP McManus, were reported to be closing in on a sale to Australian bank Macquarie earlier this year. The deal, however, fell through over Brexit uncertainty. They are not worse off for it, after Grove posted a 35 per cent increase in total comprehensive income to £52 million for 2018. Eddie Irwin represents Magnier on the board of Grove, where he sits alongside former minister for finance and European commissioner Charlie McCreevy.

In London, Magnier and McManus have invested in high-profile property including the historic headquarters of Unilever on the banks of the Thames at Blackfriars and the Hilton Hotel building on Canary Wharf. Magnier’s share in those properties is held through a series of Isle of Man-registered companies under the Sloane banner managed by Limerick man Aidan Brooks. Some vehicle names point to past investments now disposed of, such as Sloane Basinghall. Magnier and McManus were investors in the headquarters of Standard Chartered bank on London’s Basinghall St in the late 2000s.

The Saritame swap

The vehicles used to control Magnier’s property and corporate investments in the UK illustrate the acceleration of establishing offshore structures in the past 15 years. 

John Magnier registered Saritame as an Irish limited company in 1998 and held 100 per cent of its shares. Its accounts for the year ending March 31, 2004 were the last set published before Magnier re-registered it as unlimited. They showed Saritame had invested in an entity called the Brumoy Partnership, formed by John and Sue Magnier. “Although the company controls the partnership, the ownership of its assets and liabilities is shared among the other partners,” the filing said.  

Also in 2004, two companies were registered in the Isle of Man: Cushlin Enterprises Ltd. and Damrid. Magnier’s advisors Eddie Irwin and Conor Spain are directors of both companies. These together now hold the entire capital of Saritame. The two Isle of Man companies are in turn held by two Gibraltar companies, Sovereign Investments Ltd. and Midland Investments Ltd., both vehicles of the Sovereign Group – an offshoring advisory firm also acting as the agent for Magnier companies in the Isle of Man.

The Brumoy Partnership, now under the control of this network of companies, holds Magnier’s stakes in Barchester Healthcare, the Hilton Hotel building on Canary Wharf and Unilever House.

Cushlin Enterprises and Damrid also own two Irish-registered companies, Yorktown Unlimited and Dustori Unlimited, for which no clear purpose could be established.

To complete the picture of Magnier’s major UK investments, he and McManus were revealed as the investors behind Elpida Group Ltd, the second-largest investor in Mitchells & Butlers plc. The company, which runs 1,700 pubs and restaurants across the UK, forced the vehicle to reveal its owners in a stock exchange announcement in 2011 as it was increasing its stake. Elpida currently holds 23.4 per cent of Mitchells & Butlers, which at the PLC’s current market cap of £1.89 billion is worth £442 million.

****

Since 2014, the central square on Cashel’s Main St in Co Tipperary has been facing into the sad sight of a closed-down hotel. Like many similar businesses across rural Ireland, the Cashel Palace had held on for as long as it could during the recession, but did not survive long enough to benefit from the recovery. 

Nowadays, two cranes complete the town’s skyline against the backdrop of the Rock of Cashel, which adjoins the hotel’s grounds. The 1730s building, originally built by Church of Ireland archbishop of Cashel Theophilius Bolton as his private residence, is entirely wrapped in scaffolding and protective plastic sheeting. It has been stripped of modern extensions and the deep renovation is scheduled to lead to the re-opening of a luxury hotel here by the end of next year.

Next to the palace’s gates, a planning notice detailing the latest updates to redevelopment plans for the hotel is on display in the window of Mikey Ryan’s bar and restaurant. The notice dated August 14 is in the name of Trevester Ltd, which owns both establishments. It is slightly out of date: as of the end of July, Trevester re-registered as an unlimited company. Like most companies controlled by the Magnier family, it will no longer have to publish detailed accounts. At the same time, Trevester issued a small number of redeemable shares to Sue Magnier. The rest of its capital is held offshore by Acomita Investments.

When I visited Mikey Ryan’s this month, the special of the day was a flavoursome game pasty served on a plate decorated with delicate edible flowers. Two men at the next table greeted the manager as regulars – possibly colleagues – and discussed the selection of young mares over lunch. 

There are mixed feelings in the local community about the Magniers today – a subject nobody will discuss openly.

The restaurant’s walls are decorated with souvenir photos including a portrait of John Magnier at the ringside during a yearling sale, one of JP McManus at the races, and another of Charles Haughey. The then Taoiseach had appointed Magnier to the Seanad, where he spoke only twice – once in favour of a Chapter 11-style procedure for companies in trouble, and once in favour of supports for the non-thoroughbred horse breeding industry.

The hospitality investments in Cashel have made the family and its wealth more visible than before, even though the heart of their business has always beaten on the Coolmore stud farm a short drive away in Fethard. Locals relish telling the story of the lavish party thrown on the town centre property for John Magnier’s grandson Max Wachman, who won an individual gold medal at the under-16 European showjumping championship in August and contributed to the Irish team’s overall win. The family’s showjumping grandchildren are coached by former Irish Olympian Cian O’Connor.

The walls of Mikey Ryan’s also tell the story of local farming, placing John Magnier at the town’s livestock mart, and recounting the day the 1966 march for farmers’ rights went through Cashel. Those photos are not on the same wall as that of Haughey who, as minister for agriculture, famously refused to meet protesting farmers camped outside his office for three weeks.

“Farmers credit the Magniers with the donation of relief fodder for their animals after bad weather caused shortages on several occasions in recent years, even though this was not publicly advertised.” 

There are mixed feelings in the local community about the Magniers today – a subject nobody will discuss openly. Coolmore Stud and its owners are acknowledged as providers of numerous jobs on their farms and in other services such as construction. Annesgift House, another 18th century historic house transferred by John Magnier to his son Tom in 2008, is currently undergoing extensive renovation. These works, along with the redevelopment of Mikey Ryan’s and the Cashel Palace, have been contracted to Clonmel-based building firm Mulcahy Construction.

Farmers credit the Magniers with the donation of relief fodder for their animals after bad weather caused shortages on several occasions in recent years, even though this was not publicly advertised. 

Yet there is also frustration when buyers for the myriad companies controlled by the family outbid locals in farmland sales. While Coolmore publicly states on its website that it holds 7,000ac in Ireland, this has remained unchanged for many years and two independent sources in Tipperary farming circles have estimated the Magnier’s holding to be in the region of 20,000ac of prime Golden Vale land. 

Local sources say their land purchases accelerated in the past two years before ebbing somewhat this year, focusing on a triangle between John Magnier’s native Grange farm in Fermoy, Co Cork and the adjoining Castlehyde stud; Coolmore’s main base across the breeding stud farm in Fethard and the racing stables founded by Sue’s father Vincent O’Brien in nearby Ballydoyle; and Clonmel to the south. Magnier and McManus have also been reported to acquire land in Lucan, Co Dublin.

One source linked a spike in agricultural land prices in the Golden Vale in 2017 and 2018 to buying activity by the Magnier family. Coolmore agents are known to approach farmers nearing retirement age or facing financial difficulties with offers for private treaty sales, but they also buy at public auction on occasion. John Magnier and his son-in-law David Wachman, who retired from a successful horse training career in 2016, are often directly involved in sealing property deals.

While over 500ac of land hosting the Ballydoyle training yard represents one of the rare assets registered under John Magnier’s own name, most of the family’s landholdings are managed through unlimited or overseas companies. There are certainly more companies linked to the family than The Currency was able to verify.

Complex structure through offshore territories

The stud farms including Coolmore itself are the property of Linley Investments, an Isle of Man-based company. A complex structure routes ownership of these assets through further companies in Ireland and the Isle of Man, with ultimate control ensured by special shares in the hands of John Magnier and minority stakes held by his wife and children.

“Contacted through Coolmore Stud, Magnier, Irwin, Gleeson and Spain have declined to answer The Currency’s questions.”

Various members of the family manage their interests through companies with Coolmore associates Conor Spain, Eddie Irwin and/or David Gleeson as their directors. The vehicles often include a stake for Galzant Unlimited, a central holding structure with stakes in 18 other companies. Although Spain formally owns all of Galzant’s capital, several of its subsidiaries identify John Magnier as their ultimate beneficiary owner. 

Contacted through Coolmore Stud, Magnier, Irwin, Gleeson and Spain have declined to answer The Currency’s questions.

One example of the structures used is the purchase of Bengurragh House on the outskirts of Cahir, Co Tipperary one year ago. The country house and associated buildings came with 110ac and selling agents Pat Gannon Auctioneers described it as “fertile free-draining lands ideally suited to a multiplicity of enterprises, including agricultural and equine pursuits”. The property’s brochure added that 22ac of the property was suitable for development.

Magnier’s children John Paul and Katie (David Wachman’s wife) acquired it at the end of September 2018 for €720,000, the top price paid for any single residential property in Co Tipperary last year, according to analysis by MyHome.ie. Within three weeks, a company named Bengurragh Ltd. was registered, with Wachman’s right-hand man Paul Murphy as director and secretary. The company is 100 per cent held by Galzant. 

*****

Planning applications, too, shed some light on the structures used by the family to invest in agricultural holdings. Melclon Ltd, another company registered by Murphy last year and fully owned by Galzant, has planning permission to build 74 houses in Clonmel. 

In August this year, Carradale Trading Ltd, a company owned by Sue Magnier and Eddie Irwin, secured planning permission to build cattle sheds capable of housing 300 animals on land owned by Coolmore Stud Farm. Coolmore itself had already applied to build the same capacity of cattle housing in the same yard three years earlier.

Combining the information available from connected companies, a picture emerges of the family’s agricultural operations across the Golden Vale that reaches far beyond the breeding and training of racehorses. Beef production and tillage farming, largely driven by the stables’ demand for feed and straw, also feature prominently in the business. 

The museum’s centrepiece is the preserved skeleton of Sadler’s Wells.

Both Mikey Ryan’s restaurant and the Horse Country Experience museum in Fethard display photos of a fleet of seven tractor-baler combinations harvesting hay in one field, a sight few Irish farms outside Coolmore could provide. The museum’s centrepiece is the preserved skeleton of Sadler’s Wells, the stallion that made Magnier’s fortune and established the model behind Coolmore’s success.

Brought from Kentucky by then Coolmore partners Robert Sangster, Vincent O’Brien and John Magnier, Sadler’s Wells was trained at Ballydoyle and started racing in 1983 before exploding into a series of victories including the Irish 2,000 Guineas, the Eclipse and the Phoenix Champion Stakes the following year. After moving to Coolmore, he sired another generation of winners, cementing the stud’s business model of rotating proven stallions around the world for breeding purposes in exchange of lucrative nomination fees, which routinely exceed €100,000 per mare covered.

“This has generated significant cash for the family to invest elsewhere. Since the turn of the millennium, these investments have largely moved offshore.”

In addition to its Irish and US operations, Coolmore also runs an 8,000ac stud farm in Australia, bringing the Magnier family’s global landholding to an estimated 30,000ac.

Thanks to the incentives established when Charles Haughey was minister for finance in 1969, bloodstock income remained tax-free until 2008. An EU state aid investigation then forced the Government to close the exemption, but generous deductions remain. 

This has generated significant cash for the family to invest elsewhere. Since the turn of the millennium, these investments have largely moved offshore, while John and Sue Magnier themselves became Swiss residents.

In the Golden Vale, the depth of the Magnier pockets has raised eyebrows among those competing with them for land. An academic paper circulated in 2016 used the Coolmore example to question the legality of bloodstock tax breaks under competition law from the perspective of the agricultural land market.

In Fethard, the Horse Country Experience does not cover this level of detail, instead listing the Magniers among key families who have made the town. Before exiting the museum through a display of Coolmore-branded merchandise, those visitors who read the credits for the redevelopment of the town’s historic almshouse into a museum will note that the building was saved “by the people of Fethard with help from South Tipperary County Council, Tipperary Leader, the Heritage Council of Ireland, Failte Ireland and, of course, John Magnier Principal of Coolmore Stud”.