Fate of 33 Jurys hotels hits snag

THE fate of Jurys Doyle’s 33 hotels hit a further snag yesterday as bankers to developer Sean Dunne delayed the payment of the €260 million to purchase the prestigious Ballsbridge 4.8-acre site.

Delays in finalising the sale of the hotly contested land bank could affect the timing of a formal offer of €1.2 billion or €18.90 per share for the rest of the group by the Doyle family consortium.

Between them they control over 42% of the equity in the group while Mr Dunne has over 28% under his control.

The delay in paying for the Ballsbridge site is expected to be finalised in the near future, Jurys Doyle informed the Irish Stock Exchange in a statement yesterday morning.

Mr Dunne’s legal advisers said documentation and legal due diligence has yet to be finalised to the satisfaction of the provider of debt facilities to Mr Dunne in respect of the transaction.

Jurys, which has been the subject of takeover speculation for months, announced the bid approach on September 19 from the Doyle family consortium.

It valued the shares at €18.90 or 24% above an initial €15.25 proposal made by another investor group Precinct Investments.

It is also a significant 51% higher than the €12.50 Jurys shares were trading at before rumours of that bid started in the market.

Mr Dunne’s involvement in the Jurys saga has complicated the process. To protect his €260m land purchase from Jurys, Mr Dunne built up a 28% equity stake in the hotel group and the possibility of a full bid from him has not been ruled out.

It has been assumed the Doyle consortium voted for the land sale to Mr Dunne provided he committed to accepting the offer for the hotel chain.

Weekend reports suggested no such deal had been entered into by Mr Dunne raising the spectre still of a counter bid.

Sources close to the deals dismiss the idea of a bid emerging from Mr Dunne to counter the Doyle consortium offer of €18.90 per share, which represents full value for the group.

Mr Dunne is entitled to hold on to his stake in the group if he wishes, but that prospect was thought to be unlikely.

The general view in the market is he will either make a counter bid or sell out to the consortium.

Shares in Jurys rose five cents in early trading to €18.75 but were unchanged at €18.70 by late afternoon yesterday.