Ballsbridge site Jurys’ trump card

FINANCIAL advisers to Jurys Doyle Group and Precinct have been engaged in serious talks over the past week thrashing out details of the €1.04 billion bid on the table from Precinct.

The deadline for acceptance of the offer runs out on Friday.

IBI Corporate Finance is representing the interests of the Jurys Doyle board, while Deloitte Corporate Finance is acting on behalf of Precinct.

Despite the intense discussions between the parties, no resolution is in sight as the deadline for the €16.50 per share bid approaches.

For the past two days the board of Jurys Doyle have met in conclave at a hotel in Co Laois to thrash out the future strategy open to the group. Jurys has been under pressure to deliver for shareholders since the first Precinct bid emerged for the hotels.

Apart from the current €16.50 offer, Jurys is also considering tenders received for the Ballsbridge site, one of which is believed to have valued the five acres in the heart of Dublin at €260 million.

It is further understood that the unconfirmed €260m valuation of the Ballsbridge site could be the trump card for the Jurys board if they come to reject the latest Precinct offer.

Market sources suggest that with Ballsbridge, the sites of the Montrose and Burlington Hotels in Dublin could also be put out to tender, thus significantly raising the value of the group above the €16.50 offered by Precinct.

It is understood Precinct valued the Ballsbridge site at €200m, a value that has been surpassed in the 13 tenders before the board.

The other key factor in the equation is the key 30% holding by the daughters of PV Doyle, the founder of the Doyle hotel chain that merged with Jurys some time back, who are considered unlikely to sell their stake.

While the latest Precinct bid says an 80% acceptance from shareholders would be sufficient for them to proceed with a full offer, well-placed sources suggest they will not get that figure, even if the Jurys Doyle Group board puts the bid to an extraordinary general meeting for acceptance.

It has also been suggested that the board has been divided over the bid, with the Doyle sisters the main stumbling block. While that may have been so, market sources suggest the higher value achieved through the tendering system for Ballsbridge gives the whip hand back to the Jurys Doyle Group.

Analysts have already said that the initial bid of €15.15 was a generous offer for the hotel chain, which operates 33 hotels across Ireland, Britain and the US.

However, the decision by the board to put the valuable Ballsbridge site out to tender looks to have strengthened the hand of the board, which ended its two-day think-in on the group’s future yesterday afternoon.