Denis O’Brien’s Algarve resort reported for sale

Businessman Denis O'Brien is believed to be considering the sale of his Quinta do Lago golf and property resort in the Algarve for €220 million.

According to a report in local publication Portugal Resident, Mr O'Brien has received two bids for the popular resort.

Negotiations are said to be at an “early stage”, with one of the bids thought to involve a US consortium. No comment was available from Mr O’Brien last night. It’s understood estate agents Knight Frank and Jones Lang LaSalle have been appointed to the sale. Mr O’Brien has owned Quinta do Lago since 1998. The resort was originally built by property developer André Jordan in 1971.

Latest accounts for Algarve Golf Courses Ltd show that the subsidiary company that manages the Quinta do Lago golf resort made a profit of €521,766 in 2013 and had capital and reserves of €8.8 million.

The directors said they were “satisfied” with the performance of the subsidiary – Sociedade do Golf da Quinta do Lago SA – which “remains profitable despite the difficult economic conditions”.

In March 2013, The Irish Times reported that Mr O'Brien was planning a €426 million commercial development in the Algarve.

Major project

This followed an interview with

Algarve Resident

, an English-language community newspaper, in which Mr O’Brien provided details of a major project he is planning in a town called Almancil, which has a population of just under 9,000 people.

He said it was in the “approvals process” and had a “projected investment in the initial stages of €426 million, with annualised tax revenue of €114 million in the initial years”.

‘Great sanctuary’

Mr O’Brien also spoke about his Quinta do Lago resort. “It is a great sanctuary of peace and tranquillity, set in beautiful natural surroundings,” he said.

Mr O’Brien said “it has been an incredibly difficult time” for the hospitality industry in the Algarve with Portugal part of an EU-IMF bailout programme. “We saw the industry collapse in 2009, with a drop-off in operational revenues of 35 per cent. More worrying was the short-term strategy adopted by many hospitality businesses, which engaged in an ongoing price war.”

He said the company was in the final year of a €29 million five-year capital investment cycle, and “we have already approved the subsequent five-year investment portfolio”.