JP McManus has emerged as the highest bidder for Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort with a knock-out offer of €30 million. Final bids for the five-star hotel were submitted last Friday and The Irish Times understands that Mr McManus submitted the biggest bid for the five-star hotel and golf course which was put on the market by CBRE with a guide price of €25 million.
The Limerick-born multimillionaire has had a long association with Adare, where he has hosted star-studded Pro-Am golfing tournaments in 2005 and 2010 which has raised millions for charity.
Participants in the tournament have included golfer Tiger Woods as well as actors Samuel L Jackson and Michael Douglas. The hotel has also hosted former US President Bill Clinton.
Mr McManus declined to comment yesterday. He did however indicate his interest in the resort recently when he did not rule out holding another golf tournament there. "We might see another Pro-Am in the future, so fingers crossed," he told reporters at an event in the University of Limerick.
Tom Kane acquired the resort in 1987 from the Earl of Dunraven and he lavished millions on restoring the manor and converting it into a 62-bedroom hotel with golf course designed by Robert Tent Jones, senior.
Mr Kane funded the development of Adare with borrowings from AIB, leading to a requirement to put it up for sale. It has 71 homes on its estate but has planning permission to build 133 more. It also has planning approval for a medical facility and a nursing home.
As a result of its borrowings from AIB, the resort ended up in the National Asset Management Agency. Nama previously looked to sell it in January 2013 when a bid of just €13 million was expected to be enought to secure it.
The state property agency took Adare off the market however, and by waiting longer for the Irish and global economy to recover has secured €17 million more for the taxpayer.
Mr McManus has been prepared to invest in prestige properties even in the downturn. His family has acquired property in Dublin 4 and he was recently linked as a potential buyer of Castlemartin stud, the former home of Sir Anthony O’Reilly.
Tralee Portfolio Management (TPM), a US private equity firm linked to the Chicago-based Saliba family, is thought to have been an under-bidder for Adare. Tralee previously closed the sale of the Lough Erne Resort, which hosted the G20 summit last year.