Dalata Hotels Group joins the swell of upcoming stock market floats, and seeking €150-200mln of new funding it is set to be one of AIM’s larger new additions.
Ireland’s largest hotelier, owner of the Maldron chain, will come to the market with an ambitious growth plan as the capitalisation expected to pay for the acquisition of 16 to 25 hotels.
Including the Maldron brand, of 3-4 star hotels, and other managed sites Dalata already operates 40 hotels, 11 of which are in the “strongly trading” Dublin area, and as the company sees its market improving it plans to expand the portfolio at reasonable prices.
Dalata anticipates an increased number of Irish hotel assets will become available this year and next, and it believes it is well positioned to consolidate.
"We are bringing both a strong business and a strong opportunity to the market at a point where revenues in the sector are stabilising after a prolonged period of downward pressures,” chairman John Hennessy said.
“The capital raised through this placing will position Dalata for growth and enable it take advantage of its established relationships and strong reputation in the Irish marketplace."
In 2013, Dalata had revenues of €60.6mln and earnings of €5.3mln, up from €54.1mln and €3.5mln the year before.
