I see Karol and Chantelle McElhinney snapped up the 2,400-acre An Grianán estate in Co Donegal, in what must be the biggest Irish farm deal of this century. The McElhinneys are the people behind Glenmore Estate Farms, and they have interests in tillage and livestock farming, as well as bioenergy and construction.
I see Karol and Chantelle McElhinney snapped up the 2,400-acre An Grianán estate in Co Donegal, in what must be the biggest Irish farm deal of this century.
The McElhinneys are the people behind Glenmore Estate Farms, and they have interests in tillage and livestock farming, as well as bioenergy and construction.
They paid the Donegal Investment Group a cool €17.425m or €9,000/ac for the property, which includes 1,290 acres of organically-farmed land and a 500-acre lake at Speenoge, Burt, Co Donegal.
Most of the estate is currently leased to the Witherow family, who run a 500-cow organic dairy herd and produce organic vegetables on it.
Donegal Investment Group acquired the farm back in the late 1990s from National Irish Bank (NIB). An Grianán came to national attention back in 1996 when the Graham family, after years of legal wrangling, were evicted from the farm by NIB, for defaulting on debts of close to £2.8m (punts).
Donegal Investment Group sold another 245-acre portion of the farm for less than €3m back in February 2014.
Selling agent Savills reported strong interest in An Grianán, from “various buyer types”.
It was rumoured that Larry Goodman’s helicopter was spotted in Donegal airspace, before the local bidders the McElhinneys swooped in to close the deal on Tuesday.
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