Doyle family shows interest in deal

A consortium containing members of the Doyle family has approached the directors of Jurys Doyle Hotel Group about making a possible offer for the company.

The group is made up of Eileen Monahan, Ann Roche, Bernadette Gallagher, Walter Beatty and Elizabeth Nelson, who have between them a shareholding of 42.3% in the company.

Any deal would value Jurys Doyle at not less than €18.90 (£12.72) a share. The consortium has appointed Goldman Sachs International as advisers.

Jurys is holding an extraordinary general meeting on 27 September to vote on whether to except property developer Sean Dunne's £260m (£180m) offer for its Dublin Ballsbridge site.

Dunne himself has been linked with supporting a bid for the entire company and currently has a 27% shareholding.

Last month Precinct Investments declared it was ending its four-month courtship of the hotel group, despite finding a new backer for its provisional $1.1b (£750m) offer.

However deal partners the Rubens Brothers have yet to rule themselves out of making a bid.

by Chris Druce