Swedish group buys Jurys Inn hotel chain for £800m

THE Jurys Inn chain of hotels, which includes a venue in Belfast’s Great Victoria Street, has been acquired for £800m following a successful bid by Swedish group Pandox.

The seller, US-based private equity group Lone Star, bought the chain in 2015 after Irish taxpayer-owned IBRC and other banks had written off €300m (£264m) in boom-era loans. The chain is part of the Amaris hotel group owned by Lone Star.

Its properties include two hotels in Dublin, one in Cork, one in Galway and another in Belfast. Of its total 36 hotels, one is in Prague, five are on the island of Ireland and the rest are in Britain. One of six Hilton-branded hotels owned by Amaris was included in the deal.

Lone Star put the business up for sale earlier this year after acquiring it for €900m (£792m) back in 2015.

The US fund had already recouped part of that original outlay through an earlier disposal.

Pandox said it would retain ownership of 20 hotel properties within the portfolio, along with the property and operations of the Hilton Garden Inn London Heathrow hotel.

Pandox said Fattal’s Leonardo Hotels Europ would operate all of the hotels. Under its new own- ership, the Jurys Inn business will continue to be led by Jason Carruthers and the existing leadership team. Staff will continue to be employed under existing terms and conditions.

Pandox has 122 hotels located in countries including Sweden, Norway, the UK, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Switzerland and more.

Meanwhile, Dublin-based Harcourt Developments, whose projects include Belfast’s Titanic Quarter and its newest hotel, has apparently lost all prospects of pursuing a £100m claim it has been chasing for years against Jersey’s government.

More than a decade ago, Harcourt, headed by Pat Doherty, was selected to construct a new financial quarter in Jersey. But the project was withdrawn by the local government from Harcourt in 2008 after the island’s treasury said it had concerns about whether the firm would be able to finance the project. The project was subsequently taken over by The States of Jersey Development Company.

In 2012, Harcourt sued The States of Jersey Development Company and the island’s Minister for Treasury and Resources. But the claim against The States of Jersey Development Company has now been struck out.

The court said Harcourt had displayed “repeated failures” to meet deadlines for an appeal.