Irish hotel investor Dalata has confirmed it is 'exclusive discussions' to lease an operate a 399-room Dublin hotel, which has been renovated and rebranded by Blackstone in recent years.
Dalata, which is listed in Dublin and London, said in a statement on Wednesday that it had entered into exclusive discussions to lease and operate the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in the Dublin 4 district.
Dalata is working in collaboration with an unnamed party seeking to acquire the property. Dalata stressed that there were no guarantees that a transaction would result from the talks.
The hotel property, fomerly known as the Burlington Hotel, is located at Sussex Road and Burlington Road in an upmarket part of south Dublin.
Dalata's statement did not address media speculation that the hotel could trade at about €180 mln, more than a 100% increase on the €67 mln Blackstone paid for the Burlington Hotel in 2012 when the Irish economy was in the doldrums. The €20 mln renovation programme would lift Blackstone's outlay to around €87 mln.
The Burlington Hotel previously traded at the top of the market in 2007 to Irish property developer Bernard McNamara for €288 mln. Three years later McNamara had accumulated €1.5 bn of debt and the hotel was one of the assets sold via an administration process.
