Royal Bank of Scotland has received bids from up to four Irish property developers to buy Dublin's landmark Shelbourne Hotel ranging from €155 million to €165 million.

Mr Joe O'Reilly and Mr Liam Maye, who are both directors of Castlethorn Developments, are part of one of the groups that has submitted a bid.

The consortium has already held talks with the bank about buying the famous hotel.

The other bids came from a number of Republic's other large property developers.

Mr Seán Mulryan, who operates Ballymore Homes, owns Huguenot House, the building next door to the Shelbourne and is likely to have considered the purchase.

Other developers who may be amongst the bidders are Mr Derek Quinlan, who is expected to sell its flagship property, London's Savoy Group, for a reported €300 million, just five months after buying the business.

Mr Quinlan's company, Quinlan Private, said on Thursday that it was negotiating the sale of the Savoy Hotel to a company controlled by Saudi Arabian billionaire, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Bank of Scotland.

Mr Paddy Kelly, who owns the Clarion Hotel Group, held tentative discussions with the Gresham group before the consortium headed by Mr Bryan Cullen of Jackson Homes launched a successful bid for the group and is likely to be interested.

The bids were submitted to Royal Bank of Scotland this week.

The bank acquired the property in 2001 from a consortium headed by Japanese investment bank Nomura Securities for €115 million in a sale-and-lease-back agreement. In January of this year the Marriott International hotel group agreed a long-term lease with Royal Bank.

It had plans to renovate the Shelbourne into a 276-room Renaissance hotel managed by Marriott on its behalf.

The bank is insisting that those who bid for the hotel must commit themselves to spending €40 million to complete this refurbishment. This figure is allowed for in the bids.