‘It's good I don't have an ego,' says Dalata CEO Dermot Crowley
But does the sale of the hotel group he has helped steer for the past 13 years feel like a victory?
Crowley says it does. He sees it as an opportunity to give Dalata the kind of access to growth capital that it struggled to secure when it was distinctly under-loved by investors.
'I get to spend more time on the normal day job and back to what I really enjoy,' said Crowley, who has been in and out of the hotel business over the past 25 years.
An accountant, he was the head of development at Jurys Doyle from 2000 to 2006.
He joined Dalata in 2012 from Ion Equity as its deputy chief executive, helping to navigate it towards a 2014 stock market flotation. He became CEO in November 2021.
He stands to make at least €5.5m before tax from the sale of Dalata via the sale of his directly-held shares. When his conditional long-term incentive plan shares are included – under Dalata's plan they vest in a takeover scenario – that will mean an additional €4.2m.
He points out that Dalata has a busy development pipeline, with two hotels under construction in Edinburgh, another in Madrid, one in Berlin that opens next year, and projects in Dublin such as a Croke Park venue.
'There's a huge amount of development going on and that's really exciting,' he said.
Dalata's board had argued, when launching a strategic review in the spring, that its share price didn't reflect the inherent value of the business. The review was a way of unlocking that value.
Crowley, who will report to the Scandic CEO Jens Mathiesen when the deal is done, insists he has no intention of leaving Dalata in the foreseeable future.
'It's good I don't have an ego,' he said. 'My initial responsibility now as CEO of Dalata is first of all, to make sure this deal goes through, and then to make sure the transition into new ownership is smooth. Ultimately, it's to see the Maldron and Clayton brands grow.'
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