9/20/2012

Lough Erne in Ten Million Challenge


Lough Erne Hotel and Golf Resort which went into administration last year is now on sale for £10m, around one third of the price it cost to build.

Dubai-based hotel group Jumeirah, sponsor of Lough Erne Resort's former touring professional, golfer Rory McIlory, has been suggested as a possible interested party.

The 120-bedroomed hotel has two championship golf courses, including one designed by golf star Sir Nick Faldo.

The resort cost a reported £35m to build between 2005 and 2009, including the golf courses and 25 golf lodges.

There are also 25 unfinished holiday homes with planning permission to build 18 more.

Commercial property agents CBRE said they had been instructed to sell the resort as a going concern by the administrators of the resort's founding company Castle Hume Leisure, which was headed up by Jim Treacy.

Brian Lavery, head of CBRE's Belfast office, said: "There is an extensive list of interested parties and we will now be returning to them with full details."

He said Lough Erne was the "most exciting and most high-profile" hotel to come onto the market in Northern Ireland.

The administrators have had to resolve a web of issues over title to the golf course, which have drawn in owners of adjoining land.

It's understood there were also discussions with the Rivers Agency, as some tees extend onto the lough.

Michael Williamson, hotels consultant at accountants ASM, said it was difficult to say if £10m represented a good price: "It depends on the cash generation potential of the resort.

"In some sense there is little point comparing costs on four-to-five years ago as the market has changed so much.

"It will represent good value if a buyer can generate a level of profit that justifies the price."

Chartered accountant Ken Kinsella, who works for private equity firm Gaia Equity in London and lives in Co Fermanagh, said: "I would like to see it stabilised because Jim Treacy had done so much work and had put an incredible team in place."

Bank of Scotland (Ireland) appointed KPMG as administrators to Castle Hume Leisure in May last year over debts of £26.4m.

In the meantime, it has been run by operators TifCo.

Former owner Jim Treacy acquired Castle Hume Golf Course in 1999 and started work on the resort in 2005. The hotel opened in 2007 and the rest of the resort opened in late 2009.

It also has conference and banqueting rooms for 400 people, five bar rooms or restaurants and a Thai Spa.

Source: Belfast Telegraph


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