Francess McDonnell

There are more than five prospective buyers in the running to purchase the Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh, which hosted the G8 summit earlier this month.

The international gathering of world leaders at the five-star resort, which went into administration in May 2011, is understood to have consolidated interest from potential overseas investors.

The resort has been heavily marketed to hoteliers, hotel and resort operators, golf tourism promoters, large international groups and entrepreneurial investors by CBRE Hotels, which was appointed by its joint administers at KPMG to handle the sale. The hotel has been on the market officially again since May with a price tag of £10 million.

Sources close to the process said a preferred bidder is expected to be identified shortly.

The global attention that the sale of the Fermanagh resort has attracted mirrors a renewed interest in the property sector in the North, according to Brian Lavery, managing director at CBRE in Northern Ireland.

Recent transactions by institutional investors such as Scottish Widows, LondonMetric, CBRE Global Investors and Jones Lang LaSalle, particularly in Belfast, point to international demand for prime investment properties, he said.

Meanwhile the Tullymore House group yesterday announced that it has acquired the Scottish Mutual office building opposite Belfast City Hall, which had been part of Nama's portfolio in the North.

Tullymore House, which also owns the Galgorm Resort and Spa in Ballymena, wants to develop a £12 million hotel in the listed building, which had an initial asking price of £1.75 million.