Jury Doyle takeover saga hots up

Irish hotel group Jurys Doyle takeover battle took another twist this week with speculation the Doyle family, which has a shareholding in excess of 25%, would make a €1.2b bid (£809.63m) for the group.

However, the Irish Times suggested a bid for the entire group was unlikely, and the Doyle's agenda was simply to safeguard the future of Jurys as a hotel company.

A Jurys spokeswoman reiterated that no formal bid had been made for the group and the company's focus remained on the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) scheduled for 27 September.

At Jurys EGM the directors will recommend property developer Sean Dunne's €260m (£180m) offer for the company's Dublin Ballsbridge site.

Dunne meanwhile has continued to increase his share holding in the group to nearly a quarter (23.96%). He needs 30% or more to trigger a bid.

Last month Precinct Investments declared it was ending its four-month courtship of the hotel group, despite finding a new backer for its provisional $1.1bn (£750m) offer.

However deal-partners the Rubens Brothers have yet to rule themselves out of making a bid.

By Chris Druce

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