Property Types Hospitality
Dublin Firm Enters Hotel Partnership with Oman Investment Fund
Aug 8, 2008
By: Tonie Auer, Southwest Correspondent

A little more than a year after purchasing Jurys Inns hotel chain, Dublin-based international private equity real estate group Quinlan Private has sold a 50 percent partnership interest in the hotel chain to Oman Investment Fund, an investment arm of the Sultanate of Oman.

In July 2007, Quinlan Private acquired Jurys Inn hotel chain from Jurys Doyle for a reported $1.6 billion. Since that acquisition, Quinlan has expanded the chain with three new hotels across Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Plans are in the works for 10 new Jurys hotels set to open between 2009 and 2010. Company information indicates that new hotel sites have been secured resulting in 48 inns being fully operational by 2012, including the opening of the group’s first hotels in Central Europe (Prague and Budapest) in 2010. Quinlan already has a real estate and hospitality presence in Europe.

The hotel market in the U.K. has risen by around 14 percent since 2004, with expectations of a relatively slow paced sector in the short to medium term focused on the lower value budget hotel sector, according to a report prepared by MTW Research.

"In the U.K., operations have traded well for the first half of '08 and the performance has been relatively strong," Jonathan Hubbard, managing director for North Europe for Jones Lang LaSalle, told CPN. "London has led the way and provincial markets, too, have fared well. There are concerns about trading growth going forward. It will slow, but there will still be positive growth. Everyone is facing rising costs for food and energy, which is putting pressure on profitability."

In the U.K. market, budget hotels like Jurys Inns, are trading very positively as travelers cut back on their discretionary spending, Hubbard said.

Quinlan was advised by Farragut Capital L.L.C. in the transaction.

The Oman Investment Fund was established in 2006 in accordance with a Royal Decree. OIF’s sole shareholder is the government of the Sultanate of Oman and its governing body is the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council.

Quinlan Private is an international private equity and real estate group. Quinlan Private acts as a principal and advisor in originating, structuring, financing, developing and managing a diversified portfolio of assets. The company has assets under management in Ireland, the UK, Western, Central and Eastern Europe and the U.S. T

Jurys Inns Group is a Dublin-based premium budget hotel group with hotels throughout Ireland and the U.K. and is one of the fastest-growing hotel brands in Europe. The group currently has 23 hotels in the U.K. and Ireland, including Dublin, Belfast, London, Leeds (pictured), Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

 
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