Jury's Doyle puts Ballsbridge site up for sale

Irish hotel group Jurys Doyle has put its Ballsbridge site in Dublin, which includes the Ballsbridge Hotel, The Towers and The Berkeley Court Apartments, on the market.

Subject to planning and a successful sale of the Ballsbridge site, the group also plans to redevelop the rest of the site, including the Berkeley Court hotel, which it plans to upgrade to four stars.

Chief executive Pat McCann said: "We are faced with a simple market reality that by our high standards, the Ballsbridge properties are not performing to the levels required, yet they represent a substantial property asset which we have to optimise in order to deliver on our overall growth strategy."

He added that the group wanted to unlock the value of a major asset while keeping a hotel presence in the Ballsbridge area.

The Jurys Ballsbridge Hotel, The Towers and The Berkeley Court Hotel will continue to operate until the deal is done.

CB Richard Ellis Gunne, Dublin, will advise the company on the sale and a deadline for the completion of the tender process has been set for 18 July.

McCann added that the disposal would result in overall staff numbers being reduced through normal procedures including voluntary redundancies.

The news has ended weeks of speculation about the Dublin-based hotel group, which has included two offers from investment consortium Precinct Investments.

The latest offer valued Ireland's largest hotel chain at €16.25 (£10.07), a rise of a €1 (67p) on the original offer.

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