TVC sells hotel group stake for €30.4m

Dublin-based investment firm, TVC Holdings has sold its near 29% shareholding in newly floated hotel group, Dalata for €30.4m.

The move, which follows on from the firm selling nearly half of its shareholding in UTV Media for €22m last month, sees TVC realising a profit of €13.4m on its Dalata investment.

Dalata, the largest hotel operator in the Irish market via its Maldron Hotel brand, raised €265m from its dual float in Dublin and London earlier this week; with funds set to go on buying between 16 and 25 additional hotels and paying down existing debt.

It was thought by some commentators TVC would retain some part of its stake for at least one year after Dalata’s float.

Analyst reaction to its latest activity — TVC has made over €80m on disposals in the past two and a half years (prior to its latest disposals) — remains positive. Despite not making any acquisitions for some time — the company’s ultimate goal is to hold a small number of high-profile investments in the €10m-€20m range — TVC’s management has said the maximisation of shareholder value continues to be its main ethos.

Last summer, it returned €50m in surplus cash to investors by way of a special dividend, after failing to identify attractively-priced opportunities, with management deeming €80m of cash on its balance sheet not to be in its own shareholders’ best interests.

“Both disposals generated positive shareholder value,” according to Simon McGrotty at Davy Stockbrokers.