Jurys to close down two hotels in Ballsbridge

Hotels group Jurys Doyle is close down two of its three hotels in Ballsbridge in Dublin as part of a restructuring plan announced today.

The company said the five-acre site containing Jurys Ballsbridge Hotel, The Towers and an apartment block will be put out to tender.

It said: "The Ballsbridge properties are not performing to the levels required, yet they represent a substantial property asset which we have to optimise in order to deliver on our overall growth strategy."

The hotel group, which has been the subject of two recent takeover approaches by Precinct Investments, said it planned to redevelop the five-star Berkeley Court Hotel as a four-star facility.

Chief executive Pat McCann said the objective of its plan was to unlock the value of a major asset.

The company, which employs more than 400 staff at the three hotels, said staff could accept voluntary redundancy or redeployment to other hotels in the group.

Jurys Doyle had put the site, in Dublin's most expensive property district, under strategic review at the start of the year.

Analysts said the group's decision to sell was likely to diminish its status as a takeover target. as much of the group's potential value lay in the site, seen as the jewel in the crown.

Yesterday, Jurys rejected a revised approach for the group from Precinct Investments that valued the group at €1.02 billion.

Shares in Jurys, which have risen 54 per cent over the past 12 months, were unchanged from the previous close at €15.3 earlier this morning.

Additional reporting by PA