A Donegal energy company claims the Energia Group has failed to pay it €3m.
Connective Energy Holdings Ltd, of Glenmore Estate, Ballybofey, claims it is owed the money under a share purchase agreement related to the transfer of control of a company behind a plan to develop and operate an anaerobic digestion power plant in Dublin.
The company, of which Karol McElhinney is a director, is suing Energia Group ROI Holdings DAC in proceedings which were admitted to the Commercial Court on Monday.
Energia did not object to the case going into the commercial list, according to the Irish Independent.
Connective wants the court to determine the meaning of a share purchase agreement entered into by the two firms in May 2018, or alternatively to order a rectification of the agreement to reflect the actual bargain struck between the parties.
The agreement involved the sale of shares, and therefore transfer of control, of a company called CEHL Dublin Bioenergy Ltd from Connective to Viridian Power and Holdings DAC which later became Energia. Those shares were originally bought by Connective from another company set up to develop the anaerobic power plant at Huntstown in west Dublin.
Connective says it transferred its shares on the basis that Energia would pay it €3.5m, in two payments, the first of which was €500,000 and which was paid. The second was to be €3m, once the project received certification on completion.
Connective says Energia sub contracted development of the project. However, Connective says that on April 25 last year, four years after the share purchase agreement was made, Energia informed it the contract for the building of the plant had been terminated.
It remains incomplete and Energia now intends to sell the company without completing it, Connective says.
Energia claimed it was not bound to honour the agreement as a consequence of the termination of the contract, Connective says. It also claimed the €3m payment was contingent on the success of the project and that Connective’s actions were designed to imperil the sale.
Karol McElhinney, a director of Connective, said in an affidavit that it appears from Energia’s most recent accounts that it has invested €24m in Huntstown and will now try to recover all or part of its investment.
Mr McElhinney said his firm is concerned that if the company is sold before the project is completed, and certified, Energia will seek to avoid payment of the €3m.
The case was admitted to the commercial list.