Property developer Paddy McKillen has significantly increased his stake in the Irish consortium that owns the Savoy hotel group in London, according to two sources familiar with the make-up of the group.

The sources believe that Mr McKillen, developer of the Jervis Centre in central Dublin, now holds about 25 per cent of the consortium which was put together by the financier Derek Quinlan.

Mr McKillen held a small shareholding in the consortium when it bought the Savoy chain for €1.1 billion in April 2004.

He is now said to be in a leading position in the group and to be taking an active interest in its management.

It is unclear which investor or investors diluted their shareholdings to enable Mr McKillen to increase his stake.

The consortium is known to include Mr Quinlan, Riverdance founder Moya Doherty and her husband John McColgan.

The original investors are estimated to have put up around 15 per cent, or more than €150 million, of the purchase price and borrowed the balance to fund the deal.

Just five months after the original purchase of the chain, the consortium sold the Savoy Hotel for some €300 million to a company controlled by Saudi Arabian billionaire, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, and Bank of Scotland.

The Savoy chain now comprises three hotels - Claridges, the Berkeley, and the Connaught - and the Savoy Theatre.

The Irish Times was unable to contact Mr McKillen, who has other significant interests in London.

He is involved in the Clarendon property group, owner of the Powerscourt Centre in Dublin, which took a major stake last year in the Royal Opera House retail portfolio, in Covent Garden. Clarendon and a group of private clients of Anglo Irish Bank spent €114 million on that property.

A spokesman for Mr Quinlan did not comment. His vehicle Quinlan Private agreed last April to buy a retail site in Knightsbridge for £530 million.

The company has 150 commercial property assets -- including car parks and office blocks -- in Europe and north America.