Jury’s Inn hotel chain has raised a further £60m to aid its European expansion push. The Oman Investment Fund and Quinlan Private, the investment firm, have each invested £15m each, with Allied Irish Banks and Anglo Irish collectively putting in a further £30m.

The funds will be used to mainly to help the mid-market chain establish itself in Europe, whilst maintaining its UK growth. The group is schedule to open its first hotel on the continent in Prague in September. 

The capital injection despite Jury’s trading slowing. Revenue per available room (revpar), fell 8% in the four months to the end of April with occupancy down 3%.

In return for the equity capital injection, Jury’s has also secured an extension to the maturity of a large part of £790m in debt.

John Brennan, chief executive of Jury’s, said that while trading remained “challenging” the fundraising was a “vote of confidence” in the company’s business model and growth strategy.

The company, which employs 1,900 people, currently operates seven hotels in Ireland and 21 in the UK. It has expanded in the UK this year with new hotels in Derby, Sheffield, Watford, Exeter and Swindon, with plans for four new UK hotels in 2010.

The company said it was also benefiting as private and public sector companies cut costs by trading down to mid-market and budget hotels.

Brennan said: “We are experiencing strong growth as corporate clients switch to better value hotels. It is a tough climate but we see real opportunity to win trade from four-star hotels.”