Hotel group Jurys Doyle has received a bid approach from a consortium holding over 40 per cent of its shares that would value the company at around €1.2 billion.
The board of Ireland's biggest hotel company, which has been the subject of intense takeover speculation, said it would be prepared to recommend a firm offer made at the proposed €18.90 a share minimum and made without pre-conditions.
The €18.90 euro per share offer is 24 per cent above an initial €15.25 proposal made by another consortium, Precinct Investments, in May and is pitched at a 51 per cent premium to the €12.50 at which Jurys shares were trading before rumours of that bid circulated.
Jurys shares were up 0.6 per cent at €18.50 on the Irish stock exchange by 10am today.
Precinct, which raised its offer price for the company three times, dropped its bid last month, when it was worth €1.1 billion. But the share price remained near all-time highs on speculation of another bid.
The consortium making the latest approach includes five board members and the daughters of the company's late founder P.V. Doyle: Eileen Monahan, Ann Roche and Bernadette Gallagher. The sisters, two of whom are also Jurys directors, raised their holding earlier this month to 29.9 per cent.
The proposal, which requires the backing of shareholders holding 50 per cent of the company plus one Jurys share, is subject to due diligence and financing.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs is providing the consortium with financial advice.
The possible offer could complicate the sale of a five-acre piece of prime Dublin land which the company had agreed to sell to developer Sean Dunne and which is due to be voted on at a shareholders' meeting next week.
Mr Dunne has also been rapidly building up his stake in the past month and holds over 27 per cent in the firm. He said earlier this month he was considering all options on Jurys, which could include an offer.
"Given that the consortium involved currently holds 42.3 per cent of the group, the outstanding 57.7 per cent of the group's share capital it does not hold is valued at no less than €686 million," Goodbody Stockbrokers' analyst Gavin Kelleher said.
He said assuming the group went ahead with its planned sale of the Ballsbridge site to Mr Dunne for €260 million, this would leave a shortfall of €426 million.
That could be met by other planned disposals, including another two acres in Ballsbridge, and/or adding to the €358 million of debt already on the balance sheet given that the property for sale in Dublin's most sought-after area was not a major contributor to group profitability, Mr Kelleher said.