Irish entrepreneur and property investor Seán Gallagher is understood to be preparing a bid to buy Slieve Russell Hotel in Northern Ireland.
The four-star golf resort in Ballyconnell once formed the showpiece of Sean Quinn’s business empire in the Fermanagh and Cavan border region. It has been under control of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) since 2011.
According to The Irish Times, the liquidators of IBRC, Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of Interpath Advisory, are preparing the asset for sale. The paper reports the liquidators invited pitches in recent weeks from a number of commercial property agents, with a view to offering the hotel for sale early 2024.
It has been reported in The Currency that Gallagher, a former judge on the Irish version of Dragons’ Den and who ran for the Irish presidency in 2018, has appointed Tom Barrett, the experienced director of hotels and leisure at Savills, to advise his bid, which is still at an early stages.
The 224-bedroom hotel includes a spa and leisure centre, set on 300 acres, which comprises an 18-hole championship golf course and a nine-hole academy course.
While it has been under control of the receivers for more than a decade, Slieve Russell continues to trade successfully, recording a pre-tax profit of around €5m (£4.4m) in 2022, double the previous year.
The sale of the hotel has been mooted for a number of years as part of the efforts to address the €66m Slieve Russell Hotel Ltd owes the IBRC. There is also a shareholders’ deficit of €41.7m.