THE BELFRY, ONE of golf’s most prestigious courses and owned by the debt-ridden Quinn Group, is up for sale.
It was confirmed that the 550-acre resort in Warwickshire, which is expected to fetch around €110m, will go on the market on the same day that Sean Quinn was declared bankrupt at the High Court in Dublin.
The Quinn Group made the purchase in 2005 when it paid somewhere in the region of €220m for the golf and 324-bedroom hotel resort, which is 11 miles outside Birmingham, and had planned to redevelop it before their financial ruin.
Now the family’s assets are controlled by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC).
Having hosted the Ryder Cup on four different occasions as well as several other European Tour events, there is likely to be a fair amount of interest in its aquisition and property experts Jones Lang LaSalle have been appointed to oversee the process.
“We can confirm that new owners are being sought for The Belfry and we are extremely confident this will prove to be successful,” Nigel Gray, managing director for The Belfry, said in The Birmingham Post.
“It is a highly-profitable business which has just enjoyed a successful 2011, with figures up on 2010 levels.
The Belfry is also very much an international brand both for the hotel and conference side of the business as well as the golf operation which is world renowned,” he added.
“We are very confident that a sale will be realised and allow The Belfry to continue to develop and grow.”
