The K Club is sold for more than £55 million

Seamus Rotherick
By Seamus Rotherick March 3, 2020 19:38

The K Club in Ireland, host of the 2006 Ryder Cup, has been bought reportedly for more than £55 million – the second purchase of a golf resort in the British Isles in the last few months.

Nursing home operator TLC acquired the venue from Michael Smurfit. Negotiations had been ongoing for several weeks over the five-star resort, which was placed on the market for more than £66 million.

According to the Irish Times, at the the end of 2018 it had accumulated losses of more than £40 million. It lost more than £3 million that year even though it was a record breaker for inbound tourism, ‘including never-before-seen numbers of the sort of US tourists who go weak at the knees for courses like the K Club.

‘About 15 years ago, when Smurfit and Gannon bought it, the K Club was valued at about 1.5 times what it just changed hands for.

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‘Even in 2012, in the depths of the recession, the K Club was still valued at more than it is now, even thought it has sucked up heavy investment in the meantime. In those eight years the economy has rebounded like a basketball. Yet the K Club is still in the red.

‘That is because prime golf resorts are the ultimate trophy assets. Business people don’t buy them to make money. They buy them because they are business people and they want to announce their status,’ it reported.

Around the same time as this purchase, the holding company of Fairmont St Andrews in Scotland was sold in a deal worth £135 million.

Mike Pegler, head of UK for seller Kennedy Wilson, said major golf resorts can profits: “Following the completion of our renovations at Fairmont St Andrews, including a targeted sustainability programme, we have significantly improved the operating performance and grown by over 50 per cent during our ownership,” he said.

Prestigious Scottish golf club bought by Hong Kong-based company

“A healthy hospitality investment market and the strong growth credentials of the repositioned Fairmont St Andrews resulted in this successful disposition.”

 

Seamus Rotherick
By Seamus Rotherick March 3, 2020 19:38
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