Dean Hotel Group paid €18m for U2's Clarence Hotel

New owners of Dean Hotel Group currently planning to triple the size of The Clarence Hotel to 162 rooms

U2 delivered a live performance from the Clarence Hotel rooftop of their song Beautiful Day for BBC's Top of the Pops in the year 2000. The Dean Hotel Group purchased the hotel in 2023. Picture: PA Photo/Neil Fraser

The Dean Hotel Group paid out €18.07m for a Clarence Hotel company co-owned by U2’s Bono and The Edge in October 2023, according to new accounts for the owner and operator of former U2 hotel, The Clarence Hotel, Vision Swipe Ltd.

In October 2023, the Paddy McKillen Jnr and Matt Ryan-led Dean Hotel Group secured a €43.5m loan from UK based Leumi UK Group Ltd to finance the purchase of the Clarence Hotel and the adjacent Dollard House from Bono, The Edge, and Paddy McKillen Snr and finance its expansion.

Mr McKillen Jnr and Mr Ryan had held the leasehold for the Wellington Quay hotel since 2019 and had been managing its operations for a number of years before that and the October 2023 deal gave them outright ownership.

Now, the new accounts show that on October 11th 2023, Vision Swipe Ltd purchased Clarence hotel owner, Keywell DAC for €18.07m and paid out an additional €3.98m to Press Up Group firm and operator of The Clarence Hotel, Brushfield Ltd resulting in a combined €22m for the two firms.

A breakdown of the Keywell DAC purchase shows that the company had a book value of €30m on fixed assets, offset by creditors of €18.3m resulting in net assets of €12.44m.

The purchase price of €18.07m was arrived at after taking goodwill of €5.63m into account.

On the same date, a note states that the Vision Swipe group increased its investments in Keywell DAC and the total consideration paid amounted to €6.32m resulting in an overall investment of €24.39m in Keywell DAC. The spend on both Keywell DAC and Brushfield Ltd totalled €28.37m.

The Keywell deal ended Bono and The Edge’s connection with the four-star hotel after more than three decades of ownership. The U2 musicians, along with Mr McKillen snr, the Belfast-born property investor, had owned the hotel since 1992 and it famously featured on BBC’s Top of the Pops in 2000 when U2 delivered a live performance from its rooftop of their song Beautiful Day.

However, the hotel continues to trade on its U2 association with the hotel website stating that the hotel is “also known as the 'U2 Hotel' in Dublin.  The note states that for 2023, Brushfield Ltd, trading as The Clarence Hotel generated revenues of €6.65m in revenues and profits of €1.66m.

Revenues were made up of room accommodation of €3.82m, €2.39m in food and beverage and other revenue of €428,594. It employed 119 in 2023.

However, Vision Swipe Ltd recorded group pre-tax losses of €5.27m in the 11 months to the end of 2023.

The business recorded the pre-tax loss of €4.49m chiefly as a result of a loss of €4.06m on the sale of tangible assets.

In March 2024 Lifestyle Hospitality Group (LHC) purchased a majority stake in the Dean Hotel Group from the Press Up Group. The new owners currently have a planning application before Dublin City Council to almost triple the size of The Clarence Hotel by 104 rooms from 58 to 162 and add an extra floor to The Clarence and adjoining Dollard House as part of a major revamp.

At the end of 2023, Vision Swipe Ltd and shareholder funds of €20m.