The Jurys Doyle hotel group has confirmed that it intends to sell the Berkeley Court Hotel site in Dublin 4, which is seen as the jewel in the crown of the chain.
In a statement this afternoon, Jurys Doyle also said that it intends to sell the Jurys Montrose Hotel, also in Dublin 4.
The group had originally planned to redevelop the five-star Berkeley Court Hotel into a new four-star hotel.
In June, the company announced a sale process to dispose of about five acres of land in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. This encompassed the Jurys Ballsbridge Hotel, the Towers and the Berkeley Court Apartments. A deal to sell the Ballsbridge site for €260m to property developer Sean Dunne was agreed last month. That deal has still to be sanctioned by shareholders at an EGM next month.
'In the period since, the company has progressed its review of options in respect of the Berkeley Court Hotel, recognising the changed context resulting specifically from the proposed Ballsbridge transaction,' the hotel chain said in its statement to the Irish Stock Exchange today.
After a meeting of the Jurys Doyle board yesterday, the board concluded that it should 'now actively pursue a disposal of the Berkeley Court Hotel site. The decision was unanimous'.
The company said that the disposal of the hotels is the core element in a realignment of its Irish hotel portfolio, which began in 2002 with the sale of the Jurys Skylon Hotel and the Jurys Waterford Hotel. This was followed by the disposal of the Jurys Tara Hotel and Jurys Green Isle Hotel in 2003 and the sale of the Jurys Limerick Hotel last year.
Meanwhile, the Precinct consortium says it no longer intends to make an offer for hotels group Jurys Doyle.
In a statement this morning, the group said that it was satisfied that alternative sources of funding were available for its ¦17.50 per share proposal, following Anglo Irish Bank's withdrawal of proposed funding last week.
But Precinct said it noted the prices at which recent share trading in Jurys had taken place and, after extensive deliberations, decided that it was no longer interested in participating in an offer. Shares have been changing hands at up to €18 in recent days.
The Jurys Doyle board had withdrawn support for the Precinct approach after the move by Anglo Irish Bank.
Shares in the hotel group closed 45 cent higher €17.85 in Dublin this evening.
