Goldman Sachs is reportedly in talks to sell Ireland's Tifco Hotel Group, which was co-founded by DID Electrical owner Gerry Houlihan and businessman Aidan Crowe. Sources with knowledge of the sale stated that an international hotel company or a private equity buyer would be interested in purchasing the group with its 26-hotel portfolio of about 2,600 guestrooms across Ireland.
However, as the sources explained, it was difficult to put a price on Tifco because its portfolio contains both Tifco-operated wholly owned properties and venues through management contracts. As of last year, the group operates the Travelodge franchise in Ireland, increasing its portfolio by 12 hotels and 901 guestrooms. Other hotels under Tifco's management include Hotel Killarney, Metropole Hotel, Cork Airport Hotel and Athlone Springs. A report from early this month claimed that this property portfolio's value has jumped by €19.9 million.
Tifco acquired Kilmainham's 120-guestroom Hilton hotel and the 63-guestroom Parliament hotel in Dublin in late 2015. Following these hotel buys, Tifco has achieved continually strong performance levels. According to the report from early September, Tifco's revenue has increased by 10 percent to €34.9 million as occupancy, average room rate and RevPAR (by 12.5 percent) also saw significant growth. Operations for hotels brought in €33.5 million in revenue as management contracts accrued another €1.3 million for the hotel group.
The firm has added on 331 staff members to the company since these portfolio additions, increasing staff costs from €10 million to €11.2 million in early September. After more than a year, the firm's bank loans dropped from €10 million to €11.2 million last year.