Dunne to complete €260m Jurys deal

Developer Sean Dunne will tomorrow complete the €260 million purchase of a five-acre site at Ballsbridge, Dublin from the Jurys Doyle Hotel Group

Mr Dunne has already paid a deposit for the site and had been due to pay the balance last week.

However, the payment was delayed. The company issued a statement saying that Mr Dunne's lawyers had advised that it would not be appropriate to close the sale as planned, as due diligence had not been finalised.

The parties agreed a new deadline of Thursday, October 20th, and the deal is set to go ahead as planned.

Meanwhile, JDH Acquisitions, the Doyle family-controlled vehicle that has launched a €1.25 billion bid for the group, yesterday issued a statement confirming that it now controls 56.7 per cent of the shares.

Another property developer, Liam Carroll, sold half his 8.3 per cent stake in the group to JDH earlier this week. He has given an irrevocable commitment to sell the other half of his holding to JDH, giving it effective control of 56.7 per cent of the company.

Mr Carroll is likely to make a profit in the region of €5 million from the deal, and not €30 million as stated in yesterday's editions.

Mr Dunne still holds 28 per cent of the company.

Jurys Doyle has been in play since May, when the Precinct Group, made up of developers Brian Cullen, JJ Murphy and Dave Coleman, launched a bid for the hotel group.