Doyles and Beattys in €1.2bn bid for Jurys group

The Doyle and Beatty families have joined together with fellow Jurys Doyle shareholder Elizabeth Nelson to make a €1.2 billion approach for the hotel group.

The development brings to a head the stakebuilding and takeover speculation that has surrounded Jurys for four months.

Jurys said yesterday that the consortium, which does not yet have a name, had made a possible offer proposal at "a level of not less than" €18.90 per share.

The approach is based on an acceptance threshold of 50 per cent of Jurys shares, plus one additional share. Given that the consortium itself controls 42 per cent of the company, the threshold looks to be easily achievable.

It would not, however, automatically result in Jurys being taken private, since a bidder needs an 80 per cent approval before winning the right to compulsorily acquire shares.

Jurys said the consortium had left the door open to inserting an 80 per cent acceptance level "in certain circumstances". It is likely that these circumstances would include the consortium being able to persuade developer Sean Dunne to sell his 27.84 per cent stake at €18.90 per share.

Mr Dunne is the largest individual shareholder in Jurys, followed by fellow developer Liam Carroll, who has an 8.3 per cent stake. Mr Dunne is seeking corporate finance advice at the moment, a move that some see as a precursor to a bid of his own.

At a minimum, the developer is known to want to secure his €260 million agreement to buy 4.8 acres at Ballsbridge from the hotel group. He has also made no secret of his desire to buy the adjoining Berkeley Court property, which Jurys has said it will consider selling.

The existing Ballsbridge deal is subject to shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting to be held next Tuesday.

The Doyle family, led by Bernie Gallagher, which has a 29.9 per cent shareholding, have said they have not yet decided how they will vote on the deal.

Sources say the family, along with the other members of the consortium, would be prepared to support the land sale if they could be sure of Mr Dunne's support in a takeover. This would allow the group to push towards an 80 per cent acceptance with relative ease. The company could then be taken private and run as a hotel group.

The consortium is taking corporate finance advice from Goldman Sachs, with the London investment bank also likely to provide financial backing for a deal. At least one Irish bank is also expected to get involved, although arrangements for this have not yet been finalised.

Anglo Irish, which was prepared to back the Precinct approach earlier this year, is a possible candidate for the role.

The directors of Jurys who are not involved in the proposal have said they would be prepared to recommend a bid at €18.90 if it came without preconditions.

As things stand, the consortium's proposal is subject to conditions such as the completion of due diligence and funding. Shares in Jurys were quiet yesterday, closing 13 cent stronger at €18.52.