Oliver Brady snaps up Moyvalley for €5m
Moyvalley Golf Club with Balyna House in the background.
Monaghan's Oliver Brady has snapped up the €60m Darren Clarke designed Moyvalley Hotel and Golf Course near Enfield in Co Kildare from NAMA for an estimated €5m.
In partnership with business partners, Jane Tripipatkul of Thailand, her son Mark McCarthy and Rita Shah, his partner in Shabra Plastics and Recycling Ltd, the businessman and racehorse trainer has plans to restore the resort to its former glory and employ up to 80 people within three years.
Established in 2006, Moyvalley comprises a 54-bedroom hotel, the golf course and clubhouse as well as 19th century Balyna House and 47 two and three-bedroom holiday cottages and apartments, all on 460 acres just over 40 minutes from Dublin near the M4.
The clubhouse at Moyvalley
According to a press release issued by Shabra, Mr Brady is calling on "all members who temporarily moved to other golf clubs will return to their own club, as the foundation stone on which any club is built is its members."
The new owners plan to re-open the facility for golf on May 9 and "hope to expand the facility to its full potential and by doing so provide employment for up to 70 or 80 people over the next three years."
Initially developed by Northern Ireland developer Alistair Jackson for between €60-80 million, Moyvalley was set up as an exclusive "Champions Club" with a joining fee of €75,000.
The course was built by European Golf Design with Clarke as the signature architect but initially no green fees were to be allowed at the par-72, 7,368-yard parkland layout, which was to be reserved exclusively for its members, their guests and residents of the five-star hotel.
When it hosted the Challenge of Ireland in 2009, it cost just €10,000 for a preference share and in June 2010 it was seized by NAMA and put into receivership.
The sale is a boost for the locality but it also means continued competition for business for local clubs such as Rathcore Golf and Country Club, Knockanally and Highfield.
The hotel at Moyvalley remains a popular wedding venue.
