Burlington sells for €67 million
Blackstone, a global private equity fund company with interests in vast amounts of property and businesses worldwide, owns the Hilton Hotel Group which it bought for some $20 billion. It also buys up businesses and debts (including a sizeable proportion of eircom’s debt here) and therefore has vast capital reserves backed by major financial investors such as Davy Stockbrokers.
It’s therefore likely that one of the Hilton brands will go into the Burlington site.
Blackstone intends pumping in another €16 million in refurbishments in what Ken Caplan, Head of European Real Estate at Blackstone,
described as demonstrating “our strong confidence in Ireland’s economic recovery. We are hopeful to find additional investment opportunities here as well”.
Paul Collins of CBRE Hotels commented, “This sale is probably the most important sale of any hotel in Ireland since the banking crisis here in September 2008. Blackstone’s investment represents a huge vote of confidence not just in Ireland’s economic future but in the future of the Irish tourist industry and the country’s vital hotel sector”.
The 4-Star hotel – one of Europe’s biggest city centre hotels – is Dublin’s largest hotel, with 501 bedrooms and boasts the widest range of conference, banqueting and event facilities in Ireland.
There has been what CBRE describes as “strong recovery” of the Dublin hotel market since late 2010 and the strength of the resurgence is reflected in the performance statistics for Dublin Hotels “which have been amongst the best in Europe for all of two years now.
“Smith Travel Research (STR Global), who monitor hotel performance in major cities across the world on a daily basis, show that bedroom occupancy in Dublin has consistently been in positive territory since September 2010 and more impressively, RevPar (Revenue Per available room) has shown positive growth for each of the last 26 consecutive months, up to and including October 2012. The STR monthly stats are the ‘bible’ for most hoteliers, hotel owners and investors across the world and occupancy and RevPar are amongst the most important KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) hotel owners and purchasers use when assessing their interest in any particular hotel.”
Dublin’s positive and sustained hotel performance is reflected in the Burlington Hotel’s current trading position which now ranks as one of the most profitable hotels in Ireland. The hotel has benefited from substantial capital expenditure since reopening in May 2008 and recently completed a major upgrade of its fire and safety facilities at a cost of approximately €1.5m. With further strategic investment from Blackstone, the Burlington Hotel has the potential to significantly grow its revenues and profitability into the future, stated CBRE.
