Takeover bid boosts Jurys shares
The company is the largest hotel group in Ireland and also has properties in Britain and the US.
It did not say who the approach came from, but it is understood to be a group of property developers interested in Jurys land.
Shares in the company rose by 80 cents to €14.10 on the Irish market yesterday, valuing Jurys at €881m.
A brief statement from Jurys said: “The board confirms that it has received an unsolicited approach which may or may not lead to an offer for the company. The approach is preliminary in nature and there can be no certainty that an offer will ultimately be forthcoming.
“A further announcement will be made in due course.
“In the meantime, shareholders are advised to take no action in relation to their shareholdings in the company.”
Jurys owns some of the best locations in Dublin city. Its seven-acre site in Ballsbridge, home to three hotels, is valued on its books at €130m, but it is estimated to be worth €200m and the company is in the middle of a review of the site. It also owns the Westbury Hotel off Grafton Street, the fifth most expensive district in the world.
Property speculators would be able to make a fortune by selling off the land and leasing back the hotels. Jurys at present owns all it own properties.
Brokers were sceptical, were an offer to be made, how it could be accepted given the concentration of the shareholding.
“We believe that an outright bid for the company would be difficult to complete, given the large proportion of shares held by the board: 25% by the Doyle family and over 7% by the Beatty family.
“The speculation does, however, highlight the underlying value of the company’s assets and the potential for the company itself to release some of this value,” Davy Stockbrokers analyst Barry Dixon wrote in a research note.
