A huge investment firm has taken control of Ireland's biggest hotel
Tetrarch Capital will now fully own the Citywest.
IRISH INVESTMENT GROUP Tetrarch Capital has completed the acquisition of the Citywest hotel, the largest hotel in the country.
The firm announced this morning that it has bought out US investment firm Pimco and now fully controls the hotel.
Tetrarch and Pimco took joint control of the Citywest in 2014, buying it out of receivership for about €30 million.
While financial details of the transaction were not revealed, it was reported that Pimco owned the larger share of the hotel.
Tetrarch did not disclose how much it paid to buyout Pimco, saying only that the deal was “supported” by a €60 million loan the European real estate arm of US investment firm Starwood Capital.
Tetrarch said that the €60 million loan would be used “to buyout Pimco and provide capital for the ongoing refurbishment of Citywest into Ireland’s leading hotel, conference and entertainment destination”.
First developed by well-known businessman Jim Mansfield, Dublin’s Citywest is the biggest hotel in Ireland, with 764 rooms.
The venue has 30 different meeting and event rooms, a convention centre that can fit up to 8,000 people, and an 18-hole golf course.
Development
Developed between 1990 and 2009, Tetrarch and Pimco have spent about €11 million on the hotel since they bought it in 2014, upgrading guestrooms and facilities.
Tetrarch also said that it has received an additional €9 million loan from Starwood to finance the conversion of 80 aparthotel units into 84 residential apartments at Westpark Apartments.
“The six apartment blocks are adjacent to the golf course at Citywest Hotel, and the redevelopment is due for completion by October 2019,” Tetrarch said.
Tetrarch chief executive Michael McElligott said that the company is “delighted” to have completed the buyout of the hotel.
“The deal makes us the long-term owners of Citywest, which has always been our ambition,” he said.
“We remain very optimistic for the future of the hotel, convention centre and our wider holdings in the area, and will continue to invest in plans we have for the further enhancement of Citywest.”
