Hotel group Dalata is to acquire a significant stake in three hotels in Dublin and Laois.
The company announced this morning it had entered into an agreement with receiver Kieran Wallace to acquire the freehold interest of certain elements of the Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane, Dublin 2, and the Clarion Hotel Liffey Valley, Dublin 22, for €62.5 million.
It also announced plans to acquire the freehold interest of the Maldron Hotel Portlaoise and adjoining Midway Foodcourt from receivers.
Dalata said it had agreed a simultaneous sub-sale of the foodcourt to a third party and the net cost of the transaction would €6.8 million.
The Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane is a four-star 304-bedroom hotel located in the South Docks area of Dublin.
Dalata said it had agreed to acquire the freehold of the ground- and lower-ground-floors, which contain the reception area, bar, restaurant, leisure centre and back of house facilities, 170 bedrooms and vacant ground floor area.
The company holds a lease on these elements until 2040, at an annual rent of €2.5 million per annum, subject to upward-only rent reviews at five-year intervals.
Clarion Hotel Liffey Valley is a four-star 353-bedroom hotel located to the west of Dublin adjacent to the M50 motorway and the Liffey Valley shopping centre.
Dalata has agreed to acquire the freehold of the core hotel, including 159 bedrooms, the leisure centre, meeting rooms, reception, bar and restaurant, car park and two vacant retail units.
The company currently manages this hotel under a short-term management agreement for the receiver, which generated €500,000 in fee income in 2016.
Business development
Dermot Crowley, Dalata's deputy chief executive in charge of business development and finance, said: "We have been seeking to purchase as much of the freehold of Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane as possible since we floated the company in March 2014."
“ I am delighted that we will now own the majority of the hotel and that as a result of this transaction, we will be able to add much needed conference facilities to the hotel in an area of the property that is currently in a shell and core condition.”
“This transaction is also consistent with our stated strategy of buying out the freehold interests of those leased properties with future unpredictable rent reviews,” he said.
