J. P. McManus explained

J. P. McManus
Birth Date:10 March 1951
Birth Place:Limerick, Ireland
Occupation:Businessman
Spouse:Noreen McManus
Children:3[1]

John Patrick McManus (born 10 March 1951) is an Irish businessman and racehorse owner. He was a major shareholder of Manchester United, until his stake was bought out by Malcolm Glazer in 2005.[2]

Early life

McManus was born in Limerick, Ireland, on 10 March 1951. He was the eldest of five boys (JP, Kevin, Owen and twins Gerry and Michael). He attended the Christian Brothers School on Sexton Street, and lived in Ballygar and later Ballysheedy with his family.[3] He began his career at his father's plant hire firm.[4] [5], and later at 21 secured a bookmakers licence and took a pitch at Limerick Greyhound track.[6] [7]

Business

In 1994, McManus established Leicosa SA, a family office on the Rue du Rhône in Geneva. It is primarily known for trading on the currency markets.[8] [9] Leicosa SA is linked to Novellus, a group of companies responsible for investing in property across the UK and Ireland.[10] McManus is also the primary director of Liberties Strategic Services, a family private office based in Geneva and Hamilton, Bermuda. The firm have invested in the likes of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank and Ashanti Goldfields.[11] McManus' brother Gerry is the finance director.[12] Gerry is based in Limerick, and is known to have a keen interest in classic cars with his collection including a Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta.[13] [14]

McManus often invests alongside John Magnier, and Dermot Desmond. The group own successful nursing home group Barchester Healthcare, and are investors in Mitchells & Butlers where McManus holds a significant share of the business.[15] [16] [17] Magnier, Desmond and McManus were all investors in Ladbrokes.[18]

In 1998, McManus was part of a consortium, that purchased Sandy Lane in Barbados from Granada PLC. The resort was demolished and rebuilt at a cost of $450million.[19] [20] In 2014, McManus added to his hotel ownership purchasing Adare Manor for €30million.[21] Shortly after, the resort was closed for a two year renovation which included a significant golf course upgrade by designer Tom Fazio. The venue is set to host the 2027 Ryder Cup.[22]

Sport

Horse Racing

McManus is a well known racehorse owner, with his green and yellow silks becoming famous worldwide. His first horse was Cill Dara, named after the county in Ireland. McManus's first Cheltenham Festival winner was Mister Donovan in 1982.[23] Over the years, McManus has become the most decorated owner of the Cheltenham Festival with 74 winners to his name. Including Istabraq who won four times at The Festival, Baracouda a two time Stayers Hurdle winner and Buveur D'Air who gave McManus his 50th winner at The Festival.[24] [25] Synchronised, a home-bred horse was victorious for McManus in the Gold Cup, his first and only winner of the race, later died at Aintree in 2012.[26] [27]

McManus has also had success in the Grand National. Don't Push It, ridden by McCoy and trained by O'Neill, won the 2010 Grand National Steeplechase.[28] In 2021 McManus won the Grand National for a second time with his horse Minella Times, ridden by Rachael Blackmore and trained by Henry De Bromhead. In 2024 McManus won the Grand National for a third time with his horse I Am Maximus, ridden by Paul Townend and trained by Willie Mullins.[29]

Alongside ownership of the horses, McManus also owns several training and stud facilities including Jackdaws Castle where former champion jockey Jonjo O'Neill trains, and Martinstown Stud in Ireland which has been developed significantly under his stewardship.[30] McManus' daughter, Sue Anne, owns Islanmore Stud in County Limerick.[31]

Manchester United

McManus, alongside fellow racing owner and businessman John Magnier, first invested in Manchester United in July 2000 buying 9.8 million shares for around £20million via a British Virgin Islands holding company Cubic Expressions. In 2001, the pair further increased their investment in Manchester United to a total shareholding of 9 percent, taking them to the second largest owners behind BSkyB.[32] [33] By 2003, Cubic Expressions had taken their ownership in the club to nearly 25%, having acquired shares from BSkyB and a Legal & General fund.[34]

However, outside of their controlling shareholding, McManus and Magnier were involved in a row with manager Sir Alex Ferguson relating to the ownership of a successful racehorse Rock of Gibraltar. This would lead the pair to sell their shareholding of the club to Malcolm Glazer for around €335million.[35] [36]

Limerick GAA

In 2023, McManus became the honorary lifetime president of Limerick GAA.[37] He had been a sponsor and investor in the team for nearly twenty years.[38]

J.P. McManus Pro-Am

McManus founded the J.P. McManus Pro-Am golf tournament in 1990. The first event took place at Limerick Golf Club, attracing professionals including Philip Walton, Des Smyth and Brian Barnes raising €1.5m for charity. The second event took place in 1995, and was supported by the European Tour. This led to major golfers including Jim Colbert, Bob Murphy and Tom Wargo from the PGA Senior Tour taking part. The final event at Limerick Golf Club took place in 2000, where 15,000 fans watched as professionals such as Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington played alongside celebrities including Sir Alex Ferguson and Formula One team boss Eddie Jordan.[39] [40]

For 2005, the tournament moved to Adare Manor where the event raised €31m for 56 charities. Professional golfers including Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Davis Love III played alongside stars such as Michael Owen and actor Peter Gallagher.[41] [42] Returning in 2010, with Woods and a star cast of professionals and celebrities the event raised a record €43.7m.[43] [44] [45] The tournament was on hiatus until 2022, with Xander Schauffele taking the honours.[46]

Personal life

McManus is married to Noreen McManus,[47] and has three children and four grandchildren. His net worth is estimated to be €2.1billion.[48] [49] He is known to be close friends with golfer Tiger Woods, and his former retained jockey AP McCoy.[50] [51] McManus is also friends with Westlife singer Shane Filan, who he loaned €780,000 to help Filan buy a home after bankrupcy surrounding his property development company in 2012.[52]

In 2006, he built a €20 million residence next to Martinstown Stud in Killmallock.[53] The property has an artificial lake, nine bedroom suites, an 18-metre pool, a 200-seat cinema and an underground car park for six cars.[54] In 2013, his €150 million mansion in Barbados was completed.[55] He also owns a €100m home in Chelsea, London, and a large property on Ailesbury Road in Dublin purchased in 2011.[56] [57] He also retains a suite at the Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane.[58]

McManus owns a Gulfstream G650 private jet. In July 2019, the aircraft was involved in an emergency landing at Shannon Airport following engine failure on a routine flight to the UK. McManus was onboard at the time with four other people.[59] He also owns an Agusta Westland AW139 helicopter registered EI-LIM and finished with green and yellow to match his racing silks.

A keen golfer, McManus has twice won the teams challenge at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland alongside professional Padraig Harrington.[60] [61] His son, Kieran, also has two victories in the tournament in 2009 and 2014.[62] [63] McManus has also competed in the BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am at Wentworth, where in 2023 his handicap was declared at 18.[64]

Philanthropy

In 2008, McManus founded the All Ireland Scholarships scheme which offers financial support across Ireland for 125 students each year.[65] McManus also has a charitable foundation which in July 2012, saw a donation of over €1 million to the Daughters of Charity foundation.[66] McManus was awarded The Princess Grace Humanitarian Award in Monaco by Prince Albert II in the same year for his philanthropy in Ireland.[67] In 2020, he donated equipment to the University Hospital Limerick during the 2019–22 Coronavirus pandemic.[68]

In December 2023, McManus announced that he would donate €1 million to Gaelic games in every county in Ireland with the donation expected to arrive in January 2024. The donation was criticised by Jennifer Whitmore TD because of McManus's tax exile status [69] This followed a previous donation of €100,000 to each county following Limerick's All-Ireland success in 2018.

In 2024, McManus donated the €30million International Rugby Experience to the city and people of Limerick.[70]

Tax status

McManus has been a tax exile in Switzerland since the 1990s and has often faced criticism of this status.[71] In 2011 he spoke out against such criticism, claiming that he was merely an emigrant who set up a business abroad.[72]

In 2012, McManus won $17.4 million gambling in the United States, of which $5.2 million was retained as income tax by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).[73] In 2016, The Irish Times reported that he was seeking a refund of the tax on the basis of the United States' double taxation treaty with Ireland; the IRS stated that McManus was a self-confessed tax exile out of Ireland and therefore – despite McManus's sworn affidavits to the contrary – not a legal resident of Ireland in 2012.

Following donations in 2018 and 2023 to the GAA, McManus faced criticism from journalist Mick Clifford to compare him, unfavourably, to an absentee landlord.[74] The 2023 donation was criticised by former Gaelic football player and commentator, Joe Brolly, who characterised it as an "act of self defense" to deflect from criticism of McManus' tax exile status.[75] The donation was also criticised by Newstalk journalist, Shane Coleman, and political party, People Before Profit.[76] [77]

After McManus won the rights to host the 2027 Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, he wrote to Limerick City and County Council objecting to proposals to impose property tax on a plot with residential zoning in the estate arguing that the land in question is earmarked for a Ryder Cup bus terminal and should therefore not be taxed.[78]

Health

McManus was diagnosed with cancer in late 2008 and after receiving treatment in the United States, he was said to have recovered well.[79]

Glackin Report

In 1991, an Irish company law inspector, solicitor John Glackin, was appointed by the Irish Government to investigate complicated dealings involving Dermot Desmond and the purchase and sale of the former Johnston Mooney and O'Brien site in Ballsbridge, Dublin, to Telecom Éireann. While Desmond represented himself as an intermediary in the sale, Glackin's report said Desmond, businessman JP McManus and John Magnier were beneficiaries of the sale. Desmond strenuously disputed Glackin's findings.[80]

According to the Glackin Report,[81] Hoddle Investments (the vehicle through which the deal was handled) executed two contracts with Telecom Éireann for the sale of the Johnston Mooney & O'Brien site for an aggregate price of £9.4 million, on 7 May 1990. Glackin concluded that McManus had lent £1.5 million to Chestvale to purchase the site from the liquidator in August 1989. McManus made the investment through an AIB account in Jersey in the name of J&N McMahon. Whether this account was to the benefit of John and Noreen McManus was not confirmed as AIB refused to break client confidentiality.[82]

The report concluded that McManus was a beneficiary of the sale of the site to Telecom Éireann, and received £500,000 in cash from the transaction, which Dermot Desmond had stored in a tennis holdall in his safe. At paragraph 5.4.4 of the report, Glackin concludes that:

No criminal charges were made against McManus or the other principals involved resulting from the findings of the Glackin Report.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Irish Examiner - 2001/05/05: Limerick confers top honour on a favourite son, JP McManus . 27 April 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080108202443/http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2001/05/05/story2196.asp . 8 January 2008 .
  2. News: Cowell. Alan. 28 February 2004. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS; A Horse, a Soccer Club and the Tampa Bay Bucs. The New York Times. 3 May 2020. 0362-4331.
  3. Web site: Making Memories. irishracingyearbook.com.
  4. Web site: The Life of Owner JP McManus . 3 May 2020 . thewinnersenclosure.com.
  5. Web site: JP McManus - AN OWNER LIKE NO OTHER. thejockeyclub.co.uk.
  6. Web site: JP McManus. donmcclean.com.
  7. Web site: JP McManus: if I lose I don't have a bet for two weeks - it doesn't bother me. racingpost.com.
  8. Web site: A Genève, un cambiste a touché près de 100 millions en 2006. FR. letemps.ch.
  9. Web site: Investoren: Goldgräber. DE. handelszeitung.ch.
  10. Web site: Inside the bank of JP McManus: How Novellus is expanding into Ireland. thecurrency.news.
  11. Web site: JP McManus is linked with stake in fastest growing Indian bank. independent.ie.
  12. Web site: Lavish McManus-built home in Limerick seeks €3.5m. irishtimes.com.
  13. Web site: McManus brother is big fan of the classics. thetimes.com.
  14. Web site: JP McManus’ brother Gerry to make alterations to landmark city home. limerickleader.ie.
  15. Web site: Profits rise at billionaire-owned Barchester Healthcare. carehomeprofessional.com.
  16. Web site: M&B shares rise 3% as pubs giant backed by JP McManus starts to weather costs inflation. irishexaminer.com.
  17. Web site: Revealed: the other two billionaires with a stake in Mitchells & Butlers. theguardian.com.
  18. Web site: Magnier and JP linked with 3pc Ladbrokes stake. independent.ie.
  19. News: Sandy Lane: Back And Better Than Ever . 2008-10-30 . Isabella . Geist . 13 December 2008 . .
  20. Web site: The History of Sandy Lane . sandylane.com . 19 June 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120131082538/http://www.sandylane.com/The-History-of-Sandy-Lane.pdf . 31 January 2012.
  21. Web site: Adare Manor Sold. irishtimes.com.
  22. Web site: REVIEW – Adare Manor, Ireland’s rejuvenated masterpiece. bunkered.co.uk.
  23. News: Scott. Brough. 8 March 2014. The stuff of Legend. Independent.ie. 19 March 2018.
  24. News: O'Grady. Sean. 15 March 2017. JP all smiles as he notches 50th festival winner - Independent.ie. en. Indepennt.ie. 19 March 2018.
  25. Web site: From Istabraq to Buveur D'Air: JP McManus's six best horses down the years. racingpost.com. 5 March 2019 .
  26. News: Wood. Greg. 14 April 2012. Death of Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Synchronised at The Grand National 2012. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. London. 15 April 2012.
  27. Web site: JP McManus: Ten of his greatest winners. racingtv.com.
  28. News: Armytage. Marcus. 10 April 2010. Grand National 2010: Don't Push It is lucky 15 for Tony McCoy at Aintree. The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 19 April 2016.
  29. News: I Am Maximus lands gamble for all-conquering Mullins in Grand National. The Observer. 13 April 2024 . Wood . Greg .
  30. Web site: McManus gets green light for new stables. limerickleader.ie. 15 November 2014 .
  31. Web site: JP McManus's daughter shells out millions on lavish new home. independent.ie. 22 October 2009 .
  32. Web site: Magnier and McManus spend £7.4m on Man United shares. irishtimes.com.
  33. News: Racehorse owners buy Man Utd shares. bbc.co.uk. 19 July 2001 .
  34. News: Irish Man Utd stake nears 25%. The Guardian. 9 December 2003 . Treanor . Jill .
  35. Web site: Magnier and McManus to make €125m from Man Utd. irishtimes.com.
  36. News: The bizarre row that sparked Manchester United's decline – and how it started with a horse. The New York Times . Taylor . Daniel .
  37. Web site: JP McManus to become Limerick GAA Honorary Life President. limerickgaa.ie. 14 February 2023 .
  38. Web site: JP McManus appointed honorary life president of Limerick GAA. irishexaminer.com. 14 February 2023 .
  39. Web site: History. jpmcmanusproam.com.
  40. Web site: In Pictures: Star-studded line-up at the 2000 JP McManus Pro-Am at Limerick Golf Club. limerickleader.ie.
  41. Web site: Adare to host JP McManus Pro-Am. irishexaminer.com.
  42. Web site: Why do the world's best players turn out for a Limerick pro-am?. theguardian.com.
  43. Web site: Woods shoots 79 in Ireland pro-am. usatoday.com.
  44. Web site: Stars of golf assemble for JP McManus Pro-Am. europeantour.com.
  45. Web site: JP pro-am raises €40m. irishexaminer.com.
  46. Web site: Pro Am 2022 at Adare Manor. adaremanor.com.
  47. News: McManus compound to expand as size continues to matter on Ailesbury Road . Irish Times . 8 September 2016 . 4 May 2020 .
  48. Web site: Who is JP McManus?. 26 July 2019. bunkered.co.uk. 3 May 2020.
  49. Web site: Ireland’s nine billionaires and where they make their money. businessplus.ie.
  50. Web site: Tiger and JP’s unlikely friendship . irishgolfer.ie.
  51. Web site: JP McManus hosts lavish star-studded send-off for AP McCoy. belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  52. Web site: Billionaire businessman JP McManus was called in to bail out Westlife's Shane Filan. businessplus.ie.
  53. News: Construction starts on JP McManus mansion, mother of all stately homes.
  54. Web site: JP McManus. independent.ie.
  55. News: Eugene . Phelan . JP McManus' €150m Barbados mansion almost complete . Limerick Leader . Johnston Publishing . 10 October 2013 . 3 January 2014 .
  56. Web site: Properties owned by billionaire JP McManus and family surpass €350m. limerickleader.ie.
  57. Web site: McManuses seek to extend reach in D4 embassy belt. independent.ie.
  58. Web site: Non-resident of Ireland's largest house. irishtimes.com.
  59. Web site: jet-carrying-jp-mcmanus-makes-emergency-landing-at-shannon-airport. racingpost.com. 8 July 2019 .
  60. Web site: Kingmaker: JP cManus. bbc.co.uk.
  61. Web site: McManus cleans up as half of an Irish double. theguardian.com.
  62. Web site: Kieran McManus sets team record. alfreddunhilllinks.com.
  63. Web site: Alfred Dunhill Links Winners. alfreddunhilllinks.com.
  64. Web site: Sports stars’ golf handicaps revealed as Wentworth confirms celebrity pro-am. yahoo.com.
  65. Web site: Scholarship Trust. allirelandscholarships.com.
  66. Web site: Profile: JP donates over €1m to Daughters of Charity in Limerick. Limerick Leader. 26 February 2013.
  67. Web site: JP McManus honoured by Prince Albert in Monte-Carlo. limerickleader.ie.
  68. Web site: JP McManus donates equipment to stop spread of virus in hospital. limerickleader.ie. 29 April 2020 . 3 May 2020.
  69. Web site: JP McManus to donate €1m to Gaelic games in each county. 14 December 2023. RTE Sport. 15 December 2023.
  70. Web site: International Rugby Experience to be Gifted to People of Limerick. limerick.ie.
  71. Web site: Matt Cooper: JP McManus's relationship with Limerick is not a taxing affair .
  72. https://www.joe.ie/uncategorized/jp-blasts-tax-exile-critics-29562
  73. News: Keena. Colm. 22 February 2016. US insists JP McManus not Irish resident when over $17m won. The Irish Times. 23 February 2016.
  74. Web site: €3.2m isn't too taxing for mega-rich JP . 29 September 2018 .
  75. Web site: Joe Brolly hits out at Tax exiles as he discusses JP McManus donation . 17 January 2024 .
  76. Web site: Shane Coleman on JP McManus donations: 'I'd prefer if people were tax resident here' .
  77. Web site: JP McManus: Just Pay Your Tax – People Before Profit .
  78. News: Adare Manor owner JP McManus in the rough over tax on Ryder Cup lands . .
  79. Web site: JP McManus fights cancer in US clinic. Michael Lavery. 24 April 2009. Herald.ie. 11 April 2017.
  80. News: Financier is no stranger to business and political rows . The Irish Times . Colm . Keena . 23 March 2011.
  81. Web site: Gavin Sheridan . The Glackin Report – complete. Thestory.ie . 17 January 2012 . 11 April 2017.
  82. News: J. P. McManus Irish racehorse owner. The Irish Times.