Jurys Doyle seeks cash to back UK expansion

Ireland-based hotel group Jurys Doyle is hoping to raise almost €26m (£16m) to expand its hotel portfolio in the UK.

The group has issued about two million shares in a bid to raise cash to fund expansion plans, particularly in the UK.

Over the past two years, Jurys Doyle has invested about €150m (£91.4m) in new hotels in the UK. These included the opening of the four-star, 169-bedroom, Jurys Great Russell Street in London, and the 69-bedroom extension to the four-star Clifton Ford hotel, also in London.

During 2001, Jurys also acquired the 445-bedroom Chamberlain Tower hotel in Birmingham. The sixth Jurys hotel in the UK, the three-star, 240-bedroom Jurys Inn Croydon, in Surrey, will open later this month, to be followed by a Jurys Inn Newcastle, which will open in early 2003, and a new Jurys Doyle hotel in Boston, USA, which will open in 2004.

Finance director Paul MacQuillan said that the group was "reviewing a number of opportunities, most in the UK". He said he thought there was an opportunity for good three-star business hotels in Britain.

He added: "Over the next four to five years, we would like to open between 12 and 15 new inns in the UK."