Green REIT €180m spree

October 29, 2013October 29, 2013903 Views

Irish property investment fund Green REIT is to spend almost €180m on a host of commercial properties here.

The Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) said it would spend €127.6m on Danske Bank’s ‘Project Arc’ portfolio of commercial properties around the country. It will also pay €50.7m for Independent News & Media’s print works in Citywest outside Dublin and EBS Building Society’s headquarters in Burlington Road in the capital. All told, the properties will have an initial yield in excess of 8.5pc. The deals mark Green REIT’s first investments since the fund was created during the summer. It is the first indigenous property investment fund, with more REITs expected to come on stream in the coming months.

The acquisition of the Danske Bank portfolio had been widely expected after the two firms entered exclusive negotiations over a sale earlier this month. Project Arc comprises 10 properties, eight of which are in Dublin. The 708,000 sq ft portfolio is a mix of prime and secondary assets. Some 84pc of the properties are let, mostly to the retail and office sectors. Net rental income of about €10.6m comes from what Green REIT described as a “strong base” of 65 tenants.

Project Arc also includes a development site of about 112 acres adjacent to Dublin Airport, with a potential for a logistics development of up to one million sq ft. PRIME In a statement, it said EBS Building was a ‘Grade A’ office building in a “prime location”. “Green REIT will acquire the property, in an off-market transaction, for €46.5m with an initial net yield of 8.6pc. With an area of 81,203 sq ft, the property is currently let to EBS Building with a minimum of three years remaining on the lease,” it added.

The INM print works, meanwhile, was described as “the most modern printing facility in Ireland” and has cost Green REIT €4.23m, with an initial net yield of 9.1pc. The 65,000 sq ft facility was bought from Davy Hickey – the property firm behind City West shopping centre. INM’s lease is not affected by the deal. Source: The Sunday Indeoendent.