IBRC’s Nottingham hotel value rises to £8.5m ahead of potential sale

Hotel was owned by daughter of ex-billionaire Seán Quinn before it was seized in 2011

The value of a Nottingham hotel controlled by State-controlled Irish Bank Resolution Corporation has risen to £8.5 million (€10.7 million) ahead of a possible sale.

The Holiday Inn in Nottingham was previously owned by Aoife Quinn, the second-youngest daughter of former billionaire Seán Quinn, before it was seized by the IBRC in 2011.

A year earlier, the hotel had been valued at €5.9 million. A more recent valuation by brokerage Christie & Co saw the value of “the fixed assets” climb by 6.5 per cent to £8.5 million from £8million, according to a filing made last month with UK Companies House.

The 128-bedroom hotel was put for sale in 2014 by Christie & Co, a subsidiary of Christie's, on behalf of Cavan-based Avid Asset Management. At the time, Christie's director Jeremy Jones said offers in excess of £7.5 million would be entertained based on either an asset or share sale.

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An IBRC spokesman declined to comment on whether the hotel is still for sale.

Latest accounts for the hotel show pre-tax profits more than doubled to £411,000 in 2016 from £171,000 in 2015.

“The strong performance is attributed to an excellent management team with oversight from the board,” according to the filing.

Avid Asset Management, which is headed by former Quinn Hotels financial controller Paul Morgan, provides "specialist asset management and financial services" to the hotel.

‘The fabric’

The accounts note that directors have invested in “the fabric” of the hotel during 2016 and plan further investment during 2017.

Once Ireland's richest family, the Quinns were ousted from their empire by the former Anglo Irish Bank, over Seán Quinn's gamble on the bank's share price.

The State is suing members of the Quinn family for allegedly putting international assets beyond reach while the Quinns claim that the liquidation of Anglo was invalid and have sued Kieran Wallace over his appointment as special liquidator.

Among missing documents identified by McCann FitzGerald, solicitors for the IBRC, in 2014 are facility letters and share pledges relating to the Holiday Inn Hotel in Nottingham. The Quinns contend that the bank should not have been able to seize control of this hotel in 2011 if they did not have the original loan documents.