The sale of the former Castle Mona hotel has still yet to be completed.

The Castle Mona was sold at auction in London to an undisclosed island-based developer in October, for a sum said to have ’substantially’ exceeded the £1m reserve price.

It was withdrawn as a lot as the auction got underway when a six-figure deposit was paid electronically.

The identity of the buyer remains confidential.

Since then, the Sefton Group has admitted the sale has taken longer to go through than they would have hoped. They had hoped to complete the deal this month.

A spokesman said: ’It’s still on-going at the moment. There is no further update.

’We are bound by a confidentiality agreement.’

Simon Riggall of the London-based auctioneers Lambert Smith Hampton told the Manx Independent that the banks were keen on a sale going through.

He said: ’I’m acting for the owners but the banks are increasingly interested in the speed with which the deal can be done.

’It’s not just the property - it’s being sold by way of a transfer of the company, which is a lot more complex.

’We will see what happens. Money has been paid upfront.

’The banks have been involved from the beginning. The banks are anxious to see this deal through.’

Latest financial accounts for the Sefton Group, received at the company’s annual general meeting in June last year, show it reported a loss of £44,000 in 2016.

This was after allowing for £637,000 of costs arising from the refinancing of the Palace Hotel and Casino.

Of that, £272,000 related to arrangement fees and legal costs directly attributable to the new AIB facility and the remaining £365,000 was extension fees, legal costs and additional interest payments to its previous funder, ESO.

Profit before finance costs was £1.572m but with interest payable of £1.561m, the Sefton Group made a profit for the year of just £11,000, which translated into the loss of £44,000 after taking into account a £55,000 loss in value of its property.

Built as the residence of the 4th Duke of Atholl in 1804, the hotel was closed suddenly by its previous owners in December 2006.

It was acquired by the Sefton Group two months later.

Plans to turn it into a four-star hotel came to nothing and it was mothballed. It was put on the market in 2011.

The site includes the 98-bed hotel with historic double height ballroom and dining/function rooms, together with a bowling alley and two nightclubs. It was described as a ’development opportunity’ by the auctioneers. A previous offer to buy the building fell through last year.