Kennedy Wilson said to close Shelbourne Hotel deal on January 17th

Irish Bank Resolution Corp. (IBRC) and Bank of Ireland will sell debts tied to the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin to Kennedy-Wilson Holdings on January 17th, Bloomberg has reported.

The Beverly Hills, California-based investment firm said last week that it was under contract to pay about about $152 million (€111 mn) for the “potential purchase” of loans secured against the Shelbourne.

"We anticipate financing this acquisition with approximately 50 per cent debt and potentially in part with third party equity," Kennedy-Wilson said in a filing dated January 6th, without disclosing the sellers. In an e-mail response to questions, Bank of Ireland declined to comment on the sale of the loans. Spokesmen for IBRC and Kennedy Wilson declined to comment.

Bank of Ireland and IBRC's predecessor, Anglo Irish Bank, combined to lend more than €200 million to a group of Irish developers to buy and refurbish the Shelbourne in 2004, CoStar Finance reported last month.

Shelbourne Hotel Holdings, which owns the property, valued the hotel at €86.5 million at the end of 2011, compared with €246 million in 2007, according to filings with the Irish companies registration office. The firm had total debts of €289 million, the filings show.

Bloomberg