The consortium that bought out the Gresham Hotel Group last year has confirmed that it is behind a takeover move on the Jurys Doyle Hotel Group.

A spokesman for the Precinct Consortium, led by Bryan Cullen, said yesterday that a preliminary approach had been made.

He declined to offer details of the approach but confirmed that the same three investors who bought over Gresham were involved.

As well as property developer Mr Cullen, the consortium includes solicitor David Coleman and Wexford-based builder and hotelier J.J. Murphy.

A spokesman for Jurys has meanwhile confirmed that neither the Doyle nor Beatty families, who together own about a third of the company, is involved in the Precinct consortium.

No member of either family has had any contact with Precinct, he said.

Jurys later repeated this in a statement to the stock exchange.

The three daughters of the late hotelier P.V. Doyle each have a sizable stake in Jurys.

Bernadette Gallagher holds 8.3 per cent, while Eileen Monahan has 7.6 per cent. Their sister, Ann Roche, holds 6.8 per cent. Walter Beatty, the former Jurys chairman, has a 7.2 per cent stake.

Mrs Gallagher and Mrs Monahan both sit on the Jurys board. Mrs Roche is represented on the board by her husband, Tom Roche.

Mr Beatty's son, also named Walter, is another board member.

The next scheduled board meeting at Jurys is due to be held on May 24th.

Any takeover approach would require the support of the two families, or of the Doyle family at the very least.

The Jurys spokesman could not comment on whether the Doyle sisters or Mr Beatty would consider backing the Precinct approach in the future.

Shares in Jurys shot up again yesterday after news of the Precinct approach emerged.

Last week's 10 per cent increase in the Jurys share price was followed by a statement from the company on Monday confirming that it had received a preliminary takeover approach.

Market sources have estimated that any buyer would need to be able to pay as much as €1 billion for the company.

One of the key attractions of Jurys is the company's eight-acre site in the heart of Ballsbridge in Dublin.

At yesterday's closing price of €14.80, Jurys had a market capitalisation of €932.2 million.

A valuation at this level would place the €117 million Precinct paid for the Gresham group last year in the shade.