The Irish Takeover Panel has decided to conduct a hearing to further investigate whether Red Sea Hotels and Whiterain International are acting in concert and as a consequence have acquired control of the Gresham Hotel Group.
The Panel, in a statement, says it wishes to emphasis that no decision has yet been taken as to whether or not any of these parties are acting in concert.
In recent weeks, the Panel had received complaints from both the board of Gresham and the Precinct consortium, which is seeking to buy out the company.
Last week it emerged that shareholders holding just over 28% of the group have accepted a €1.30 per share offer from the Precinct consortium. The offer has been extended to June 29 and is conditional on securing 54% of the shares.
Gresham's largest shareholder, Israeli group Red Sea, has rejected the bid.
Precinct is a consortium made up of property developers David Coleman, JJ Murphy and Brian Cullen.
