Investor snaps up Limerick’s Radisson Blu hotel for €3.5m

Cork-based specialist property investment firm iNua Hospitality hopes to double the size of its portfolio of assets in the next 12 months, after snapping up Limerick’s four-star Radisson Blu Hotel for €3.5m.

The company is focused on acquiring four/five-star hotels and returning them to profitability.

The purchase of the Radisson Blu was made on behalf of its joint receivers, Kieran Wallace and Niall Macklin of KPMG.

It follows on from iNua snapping up its sister hotel in Cork for €8m last November. Less than 10 years ago, the hotels were valued at between €30m and €40m.

“There are some excellent opportunities to profit on the current turnaround of the hospitality sector and the time to act is now. Our most recent acquisition of Radisson Blu Hotel and Spa in Limerick demonstrates the growing strength and economic value of the tourism sector. It also strengthens our position as a leading hotel investment vehicle,” said iNua chief executive Noel Creedon.

He said iNua is confident of a continuing stream of value opportunities arising over the next 12 to 18 months

“We equally are reviewing some hotel investment opportunities internationally and, in this, we are applying similar investment criteria as in Ireland. All in all, we are confident that iNua is well placed to double its portfolio of assets in the coming year,” he said.

The company invests capital expenditure to improve the trading prospects of hotels — all jobs at each of its properties have been saved by it buying them — which have been starved of funding over a period of time.

Mr Creedon added: “There is a lot to be positive about in the hospitality sector at present. We are starting to see a clear pathway to recovery that is supported and backed by government policy.”