Costellation Hotel Group, allies to Belfast native Paddy McKillen, has bought out 64 per cent of the company owned by British property tycoons the Barclays Brothers.
The move brings an end to the dispute over the ownership of Claridge’s, The Berkeley and The Connaught hotels in London.
The group, owned by the state of Qatar, bought out the Irishman's rivals for ownership of the hotels, in a deal said to be worth €1 billion.
The two parties has been involved in legal battles over the properties since 2010, when Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay acquired debt linked to the properties from Nama and other investors. The new deal means these cases will be dropped, the Irish Times reports.
Constellation group bought the stake of the company that owns the hotels, Coroin Ltd, from the brothers and Irishman Derek Quinlan. Quinlan, whose debt to Nama was bought by the Barclays, will receive nothing from the sale.
Quinlan, backed by McKillen, purchased the three hotels in 2004 before running into severe financial difficult in the late 2000s due to his business model of leverage-buying.
