Prem Group, the hotel management business of property developer Paddy Kelly, has spent €65 million on the acquisition of nine hotels in Belgium and France, in a joint venture with Goodbody stockbrokers. Dominic Coylereports.

And chief executive Jim Murphy said the group is now sizing up opportunities across northern Europe, specifically in Germany, Poland and The Netherlands.

Prem first entered the Belgian market a year ago with the €48 million acquisition of four properties in Antwerp and Liège.

The hotels acquired in the latest deal are branded as Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Crowne Plaza and are based in Ghent, Antwerp, Ostend, Calais, Mechelen and Hasselt.

Mr Murphy said last night that the enlarged continental portfolio was now valued at €130 million following the rebranding of the original Belgian properties and their improved performance over the past year.

The nine hotels involved in the latest deal are all three- and four-star businesses and have all been recently constructed or renovated, Prem said. Mr Murphy said one of the attractions of the hotels was their good management team, which would remain with the group following the acquisition.

All 13 properties will be held by the European Hotel Consortium, the joint venture set up by Prem and Goodbody to execute the deal. Prem will manage all the hotels, with Goodbody clients holding a 50 per cent share of the businesses.

David Clarke, head of private client property investment at Goodbody, said the joint venture allowed it "an opportunity to invest in a sector of the northern European economy where the solid fundamentals and strong potential returns are very interesting". Prem said the deal makes it the second largest hotel operator in Belgium. The joint venture holds the freehold to 11 of the 13 properties and the operating contracts on the other two.

Prem, which had turnover of €45 million in 2006 is now on course to top €100 million in revenue this year, according to Mr Murphy. Apart from the Belgian hotels, Prem operates 24 hotels and aparthotels in Ireland and Britain.