Group not acquiring stake in two hotels

The Dalata Hotel Group — which owns the Maldron chain of hotels — has said it will not acquire any share of the Clyde Court and Ballsbridge Hotels in Dublin City.

In early August, the group entered into conditional agreements to acquire the 25% stake of the holding companies of the two hotels — formerly the Berkeley Court and Jurys — owned by US investment giant Blackstone.

However, the other main shareholders, Ulster Bank and ACC Loan Management, had first refusal and have now exercised their pre-emption rights.

Dalata will retain its leasehold interest in the two properties, which will see it manage them until 2018.

Dalata still has big growth plans. Last month, it announced the purchase of the Tower Hotel in Derry for around €5.5m.

This forms part of the group’s intention to acquire around 25 hotels, initially stated when it floated earlier this year.

Chief executive Pat McCann last month said there was scope for the group to acquire more hotels, adding that it could spend up to €500m on expanding its portfolio over the next two to three years.

Mr McCann also said that Dalata — which raised €265m from its IPO — sees no issue regarding debt funding, saying that a lot of interest is being shown in it by banks in Ireland and Britain.

Dalata is understood to be in discussions with lenders regarding new debt facilities, which will be aimed at funding its expansion plans.

Dalata’s recent figures showed a 31% year-on-year increase in first-half revenues, to €34.9m; with earnings rising from €900,000 to €2.4m. The company has guided for full-year earnings of between €7.5m and €8m.