Two of Dublin's best-known hotels could be up for sale in the new year following a restructuring at the Jurys Doyle hotel group.
The Burlington and Westbury hotels in Dublin have been hived off into separate companies in what is seen as a possible prelude to a sale. The group used a similar mechanism to dispose of its flagship Jurys Hotel in Ballsbridge and the adjacent Berkeley Court to builder SeáDunne for €375.5 million last year.
Selling a company that owns the hotel rather than the hotel itself is tax efficient for both the seller and buyer.
The company declined to comment on the reorganisation, which took place in October and is disclosed in documents lodged with the Companies Office in Dublin.
The documents show that the group also transferred some of its debts to the new companies, effectively mortgaging the properties and giving an indicative value for them. The Burlington is valued at €175 million and the Westbury at €150 million on this basis.
If the hotels are sold, the funds are expected to be used to pay down some of the group's debt of €870 million, although a source close to the group said it was not under any pressure to meet debt repayments. "The group has a long-term strategy to reduce its debts and that is being carried out," said the source.
Members of the extended Doyle family and other investors borrowed €1.3 billion from AIB last year to buy the Jurys Doyle group. The company, which was listed on the stock market, was formed through the merger of the Doyle Hotel group, founded by the late PV Doyle, and the Jurys Hotel group.
The family, led by PV Doyle's eldest daughter Bernie Gallagher, moved to reassert control after a consortium of property developers tabled a takeover bid. The €1.3 billion borrowed by the Doyle family and other investors was secured on the assets of the company. It has now fallen to €870 million following the sale of the Ballsbridge properties, but is still more than twice the borrowings of the company prior to the takeover.
As well as Ms Gallagher and her well-known businessman husband, John, the other family investors are her sister Eileen Monaghan as well as a third sister Ann Roche, who is married to Tom Roche, whose family founded CRH, the country's biggest company.
