Irish hotel group iNua Hospitality has announced that it has secured an investment of €40 million to support the future growth of the business.
The group announced its intention to commence a funding round last March, targeting up to €40 million in fresh investment and consolidating the company under a single entity. The group also signalled its intention to target investment from its original seed investors and has confirmed reinvestment by 70% of its original investor base.
The newly formed entity, iNua Hospitality PLC, now owns and operates seven hotels including the Radisson Blu Hotel, Little Island, Cork; the Radisson Blu, Limerick; the Kilkenny Hibernian Hotel; the Muckross Park Hotel and Spa, Killarney; the Radisson Blu Hotel and Spa, Athlone; the Hillgrove Hotel, Leisure and Spa, Monaghan; and, the latest addition to the group, the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa, Sligo.
The group of hotels is currently valued at €90 million, while over €10 million capital expenditure has been invested in hotel improvements to date.
Performance
The iNua Hospitality portfolio recorded an EBITDA of €7.1 million in 2017. Under iNua Hospitality management, average occupancy across the portfolio of hotels increased from 60% in 2014 to 73% in 2017. In 2018, there is 760 rooms across the seven-hotel portfolio.
Consolidation
As part of its five-year growth strategy, having secured the fresh investment of €40 million, iNua Hospitality has now fully consolidated its current asset base of seven individual hotels, moving to a single hotel group structure. The group is focused on driving performance and revenue and growing its hotel base further up to 2022.
iNua founder and CEO Noel Creedon commented, “Having secured fresh investment, and finalised the consolidation of our hotel group in a PLC structure, iNua Hospitality is positioned for further growth across our current portfolio and for new opportunities as part of the next phase of our development. We have successfully grown a portfolio of seven well-performing assets, over four years, with increased profitability across the group. We remain focused on continuing to invest in our existing portfolio and our people, as well as making further strategic investments and returning value to our investors.”
The consolidation was funded from a debt perspective by Earlsfort Capital Partners and from an equity perspective by BlackBee Investments. Deloitte acted as lead advisors on the transaction, led by Ronan Murray, Partner Corporate Finance, and John Doddy, Head of Debt and Capital Advisory.
Group CFO Paul Fitzgerald said, “Working with a team of strategic partners, we have successfully completed this transaction and will now operate as a fully consolidated entity. We look forward to pursuing the next phase of growth and development as iNua Hospitality PLC.”
© 2018 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
