THE RUSSIAN businesswoman Elana Baturina has completed legal contracts to acquire the Morrison Hotel in Dublin for around €22 million. She is expected to take over the 141 bedroom hotel at the end of March.

Ms Baturina, whose wealth is estimated at $1.2 billion (€947 million), also has hotel interests in Austria, the Czech Republic and Russia.

The four-star Morrison was part of businessman Hugh O’Regan’s bar and hotel chain until Nama appointed Martin Ferris as a receiver in 2010.

Paul Collins of CBRE handled the sale of the hotel, which made a profit last year. Its sale to Ms Baturina means that four of the last five Dublin hotels which came on the market have been acquired by overseas interests – the Four Seasons, Chief O’Neill’s, the Grand Canal and now the Morrison. The Fleet Street Hotel (Bewleys) was bought by a local company.