Not so long ago, we reported that the first half of 2016 saw nearly €140-million worth of hotel takeover deals in Ireland, according to DTZ Sherry FitzGerald.
And now, as the final quarter of the year gets underway, that number has grown by nearly €100 million, thanks (in part) to one huge deal. According to a report from property group CBRE, Ireland has seen a full €238-million worth of hotel transactions since the start of the year, with the sale of Dublin’s Gresham Hotel contributing €92 million in early August. (The deal was finalized last month.) After nearly a year of waiting to see who would take the landmarked asset, Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency agreed to sell the property for to Spanish firm Riu Hotels and Resorts, which outbid local Goldman Sachs offshoot Tifco for the hotel.
A total of 37 hotel properties changed hands in Ireland in the first three quarters of 2016 (down from 54 in the first three quarters of 2015), not including the sale of the Spencer, Morgan and Beacon hotels in Dublin. (The €150-million sale of those properties by Fitzpatrick Lifestyle Hotels to a partnership including US billionaire John Malone, Paul Higgins and John Lally is not expected to be completed until the fourth quarter.)
The Lyrath Hotel in County Kilkenny was sold earlier in the year for more than €20 million by a group of Irish investors. Other properties on the block since January include the former Burlington Hotel, which is being sold by Blackstone Group with a price tag of €180m. It is being bought by Germany's DekaBank.
For the full year, Lisa Keogh of CBRE’s hotels division said, including the Fitzpatrick Lifestyle Hotels sale, the total spend on Irish hotels will be around the record €710-million level the country reached last year.