The Hilton Prague hotel, the one-time jewel in former billionaire Seán Quinn’s vast European business empire, has been put up for sale on behalf of the liquidators of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of Interpath Advisory.
While CBRE Europe has not specified a guide price for the 791-bedroom property, it is expected to command offers of up to €290 million, making it one of the most valuable hotel sales in the European market this year.
Developed originally in 1989 by the State-owned Czech company Čedok, in partnership with the French-owned CBC Paris, the hotel bore the distinction of being one of the first buildings in the then nascent Czech Republic to have been financed using capital from western Europe, according to the Czech publication e15.
Seán Quinn’s Quinn Group acquired the hotel, along with the 226-room Ibis Karlin Hotel, for €145 million in 2004, and maintained ownership and control of it until his businesses’ worldwide assets became the subject of receivership on behalf of the IBRC in 2011.
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While the Hilton Prague came close to being sold for about €180 million in 2015 with Best Hotel Properties (BHP) and US private-equity investment giant Blackstone, the two parties reportedly closest to securing ownership of it, that sales process came to a grinding halt when the Quinn family mounted a legal challenge aimed at preventing the disposal of the Quinn Group’s various assets.
The Hilton Prague has long been acknowledged as one of Prague’s most prestigious venues. The hotel, which over the years has at various times hosted three US presidents, – Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton – extends to a total area of 81,000sq m (871,877sq ft) and comprises 791 guest rooms along with six food and beverage outlets, leisure facilities and about 5,000sq m (53,819sq ft) of conference space. The hotel has had €50 million worth of investment in its rooms and facilities since 2018. It comes to the market with planning permission for a conference-centre extension of 5,000sq m (53,819sq ft).
Commenting on the sale. Kenneth Hatton, head of CBRE Europe’s hotels division, said: “There are few assets in Europe as well equipped as the Hilton Prague to meet the needs of today’s events market and, with the value levers that will be available to an incoming owner, we anticipate investor interest to be extensive.”
