Claridge's boss buys Jurys Inns

By BEN MARLOW
Updated:

 

The Irish owner of Claridge's Hotel in London's Mayfair is poised to buy the Jurys Inns hotel chain for about £780m.

Investment group Quinlan Private, led by former Dublin tax inspector Derek Quinlan, has seen off strong competition from three rivals, including Premier Travel Inn owner Whitbread. It is understood that the highly acquisitive Quinlan entered exclusive talks this weekend with Dublin-based Jurys Doyle, owner of Jurys Inns. A deal is expected to be finalised this week.

Sources said only about £30m had separated the highest and lowest bids, which had also been submitted by private equity group Permira, owner of Principal Hotels, and Lydian Capital, a Zurich-based private equity group backed by Irish horseracing entrepreneurs JP McManus and John Magnier.

Jurys has 20 three-star hotels - 14 in Britain and six in Ireland - and a number of valuable development sites.

Quinlan Private was established in 1989 and manages property worth more than £6bn.

Earlier this year it bought 47 Marriott hotels in the UK for £1.1bn from Royal Bank of Scotland.

In 2004, it bought the Savoy Hotel Group, which included the luxury Claridge's, Connaught and Savoy hotels.

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