Gresham Hotel sale expected to be completed in summer

First bids for Dublin’s Gresham Hotel are expected to be lodged by the end of April with its sale likely to be concluded by mid-summer.

Though long-since anticipated, the sale process for the prestigious hotel only formally got under way yesterday with Nama giving CBRE and Christie’s the nod to put the premises on the block with a guide price of over €80m.

With Dublin having the highest hotel room revenue rates in Europe in the last two years, interest is expected to be high among domestic and international buyers.

The latter bracket is likely to include US and Asian investors; among them hoteliers, real estate investment trusts, private equity houses and wealthy individuals.

On the domestic front, the likes of US media mogul John Malone — who owns a number of Irish hotels — Temple Bar Hotel co-owner Windward Management (headed by former Gresham chief executive Patrick Coyle) and the Dalata Hotel Group, which has been active on the mergers and acquisitions front of late, have been mentioned as prospective bidders.

Dalata owns the Maldron and Clayton brands. It is closed ahead of publishing its annual results next week, but has already stated that it will look at the Gresham along with any other opportunity that presents itself; but it has also said that it will not overpay for any asset.

The group started a €250m expansion drive last year, focusing on premises extensions, hotel acquisitions and new builds.