Jurys shareholders have unanimously approved the sale of almost five acres of Ballsbridge in Dublin to property developer Sean Dunne in a deal worth €260 million.
The deal was sealed following a three-hour meeting in Dublin with 95 per cent of votes in favour of the move.
Chairman of the group Richard Hooper said the board was very happy with the settlement. "We're very pleased and are able to resume our strategy which is to realise property assets and reinvest," he said.
The 4.8-acre site in Dublin 4 comprises the Ballsbridge Hotel, Towers and the Berkeley Court apartments. The company is expected to keep the site open until September 2007.
At the shareholders' meeting, concerns were raised that around 600 staff could be out of work when the hotel closes. But Mr Hooper moved to allay fears and said many workers could be redeployed through other hotels in the group.
The site is to be sold to property developer Sean Dunne. Mr Dunne was not permitted to vote on the sale in respect of his 27.8 per cent stake in Jurys.
The success of the deal depended on support from the Doyle and Beatty families who control 40 per cent of the company.
Together with Elizabeth Nelson, who has a 2.4 per cent stake, the families have made a takeover approach to Jurys at €18.90 per share. The families had earlier indicated they would approve the deal if they could rely on Mr Dunne's support for their takeover of the hotel group which was founded by PV Doyle.
Mr Dunne took an aggressive approach to the deal over the last few weeks, buying blocks of shares in Jurys at levels well above the price a competing consortium had said it would offer for the company.
He bought 100,000 shares at €19.50 each only last week.
Around 300 shareholders attended the extraordinary general meeting in Dublin, but no indication was given as to whether they would get a cash windfall from the deal.