Irish hotel firm Dalata Hotel Group has announced it is open for offers.
On the same day the Dublin-based firm released its full-year 2024 earnings report, it said in a news release it will embark on a strategic review of the business, with the possibility of seeking a buyer for the entire company, which is a mix of owned, owner-managed and third-party managed hotels.
No guide price was offered.
Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Dalata has a current market capitalization of £845.94 million ($1.09 billion). The company, founded in 2007, operates a portfolio of 55 hotels, and it includes 30 owned hotels, some of which are under construction.
Dalata's hotels are located across Ireland and the United Kingdom as well as one in the Netherlands and another in Germany. It currently has almost 13,000 rooms and is seeking to grow its hotel portfolio to approximately 21,000 rooms by 2030, which will include a push into mainland Europe.
In the news release, Dalata said its last valuation of its estate at the end of 2024 found its owned hotels were “externally valued at €1.64 billion ($1.77 billion) … in addition to which Dalata has €31 million of owned assets under construction."
Dalata CEO Dermot Crowley said in the release that in the firm’s view, its share price did not reflect its growth and ambitions.
Dalata has “an excellent management platform in place to deliver [our] strategy but access to capital is essential to achieve our vision. A thorough strategic review will enable us to assess available options to increase our access to capital and enhance shareholder value,” Crowley said in a statement.
The release also stated that Dalata’s board “recognizes that [Dalata] faces certain structural challenges, including its relatively small scale in a public market context, its relatively concentrated shareholder register, a constrained capital base in the context of its growth ambition and a share price that continues to trade at levels which the board does not believe reflects the asset base, fundamentals, performance, cash generation and exciting growth prospects of Dalata.”
Dalata's share price has rallied on the news from £4 per share at last closing to — at press time — £4.56, an increase of 14.22%.
Business advisory Rothschild & Co. has been appointed to review Dalata's strategic options.
Dalata has made several acquisitions in recent months, including the November 2024 acquisition of the 229-room Radisson Blu Hotel Dublin Airport for €83 million, which will be rebranded under Dalata’s Clayton brand, from seller CG Hotels Dublin Airport Limited.
In its full-year 2024 results, Dalata saw revenue increase by 7.3% year over year to €652.2 million. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 5.1% to €234.5 million.
The strategic review news release added “since 2021, [Dalata] has driven the growth in the portfolio by circa 35% to 11,990 rooms, with a further 1,624 rooms in the pipeline.”
Over its entire estate, Dalata's group revenue per available room is “expected to be [approximately] 2.5% ahead for the first quarter of 2025. There is a particularly strong performance in Dublin relative to 2024 with an expected uplift of [approximately] 5% in RevPAR for the same period.”