Five-star hotel in examinership over €47m debt

An interim examiner has been appointed to the five-star Ritz Carlton Hotel in the Powerscourt Estate in Co Wicklow.

The company which owns the 200-room hotel — one of the leading hotels of the world, the High Court heard — owes Nama €47m but an investor, the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company BV, has flagged it is prepared to invest in the luxury venue, which includes a Gordon Ramsay restaurant.

Applying for the interim examiner on behalf of Carrylane Ltd, trading as the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Rossa Fanning BL said the hotel’s ownership structure was complex and involved five different types of investors. He said the hotel opened at the worst possible time in the economic cycle and has been trading at a loss.