UK-Based Lender Has Appetite For More Debt Deals In Dublin

Specialist hotel lender Leumi UK has signed a €42.55M facility deal to refinance the 145-room Morrison Hotel, a Hilton Curio-branded hotel in the city centre — and it wants to lend more in Dublin.

The loan facility has been agreed with Centauro Investment XI SARL, a special-purpose vehicle owned by London-based private equity firm Zetland Capital and has been agreed on a five-year term.

London-based private equity firm Zetland Capital bought the Morrison hotel in May 2021 in a deal thought to be worth over €65M. The hotel on Dublin's quays had been owned by Russian billionaire investor Elena Baturina, who bought it from Nama in 2012 for €22M.

Nama took control of the Morrison after it acquired the loans of its developer, the late Hugh O’Regan, and the John Rocha-designed property was the first hotel sold by Nama after the crash.

Since the acquisition, the Morrison Hotel has undergone a significant refurbishment to upgrade its rooms and facilities and there has also been major investment in ESG-led initiatives to make it more sustainable.

“Leumi UK has an appetite in Europe, and Dublin, which is considered to be one of the strongest locations in Europe for leisure and corporate demand, and offers a compelling setting for investing in the hotel sector,” Leumi UK Relationship Director Liam Mullans said.

Morrison Hotel General Manager Patrick Joyce described Dublin as an “extremely attractive tourist hotspot”, and he added that it offered one of the strongest locations in Europe for leisure and corporate demand.

London-based Leumi UK is a specialist lender that acts as a funding partner for property and hotel companies.