Christmas Wishes and Holiday Notice
Bannon will close Tuesday 23rd December 2014 and will reopen on Monday 5th January 2015
Best wishes for the festive season from all the staff at Bannon
Bannon will close Tuesday 23rd December 2014 and will reopen on Monday 5th January 2015
Best wishes for the festive season from all the staff at Bannon
The Quarterly report released from the Central Statistics Office today show Ireland’s quarterly international investment position (IIP) an overall stocks of foreign financial assets of €3,374.7bn – an increase of €250bn on the end-June 2014 level, while the corresponding stocks of foreign financial liabilities increased by €248.5bn to €3,551.2bn over the quarter. Irish residents had an overall net foreign liability of €177bn at end-September 2014, a decrease of €1bn on the net foreign liability level at end-June 2014
Within the commercial financial sector (i.e. MFI and OFI), IFSC enterprises accounted for a very high proportion of the sector’s overall foreign assets and liabilities. IFSC assets abroad increased by €205.4bn to €2,689.2bn at end-September 2014, or 95% of the sector’s foreign assets; IFSC liabilities at €2,725bn, an increase of €208.1bn, represented 97% of the commercial financial sector aggregate liability (and 77% of Ireland’s total foreign liabilities). IFSC enterprises showed a net liability position of €35.8bn.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Ulster Bank’s parent company, has announced this morning that Cerberus has paid €1.38bn for the Project Aran, which had an unpaid loan balance of €5.6bn and gross liabilities of €6bn. Fending off still competition from Lone Star and a consortium comprised of CarVal Investors, Goldman Sachs’ special situations fund and Apollo Global Management.
Project Aran was comprised of approximately 1,300 borrower groups, over 6,200 loans with around 5,400 properties. More than 75% by loan balance is secured by Irish assets and about 20% in Northern Ireland, with more than 90% of the loan portfolio in default.
Project Aran was upsized from an initial circa €1.7bn portfolio, back in October – View Previous Article
Dublin City Council will officially launch The North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock Planning Scheme on Wednesday 10th December at 11am at the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Offices at Custom House Quay, Dublin 1. The scheme was adopted by Dublin City Council in November 2013 and approved by An Bord Pleanala on 16th May 2014. Councillor Paddy Bourke, representing the Lord Mayor of Dublin, officially launched the scheme.
The publication marks the beginning of a new process of implementation of the Docklands Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) Scheme for the City, and a new era of investment and development in the Docklands area. The fast track planning for the Docklands (SDZ) has already seen the lodgement of its first major planning application at the Bolands Mill site with a decision due on this application in February 2015.
The Docklands SDZ is recognised as an area which is of city, region and national economic and social importance, not least due to the pro-active role the most significant land holder, NAMA, will play in its delivery.
Circa 22 Hectares are available for development in the North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock Scheme, an area roughly equivalent in scale to the entire Custom House Docks / IFSC Area. Under the scheme, the floorspace to be delivered amounts to almost 2,600 residential units and about 305,000 – 366,000 square metres of commercial floorspace. This potential would deliver an additional residential population of 5,800 and employment of 23,000 people.
This planning scheme under the Docklands SDZ seeks to meet the future needs of the City, by creating a vibrant living urban quarter and an economic cluster, capable of competing on an international level. The Docklands area has the potential to support real economic recovery and provide for a critical mass of development; to foster investment and innovation and sustain the growth of key sectors, such as financial services and the services economy.
This scheme provides a clear blueprint for new development, by requiring each major site to provide a mix of commercial and housing plus a range of services, new public spaces, parks and community and arts facilities. This mix of uses is key to the vision of the Docklands SDZ.
Dublin City Council, as the designated Development Agency for the SDZ, has already commenced work on essential elements to the success of the Scheme. A new unit of Dublin City Council is now on the ground in Docklands delivering the SDZ and working with all key stakeholders and community leaders. A community audit has commenced, in relation to a new public realm strategy for the district and for preparatory designs for key new bridges.
Irish shops are bracing themselves for their best Christmas since the nadir of the economic collapse, with a new report suggesting consumers are set to spend €4 billion between now and the new year.
The upbeat forecast is contained in Retail Ireland’s Christmas Monitor, which tracks key trends across the economy and the retail sector to give an insight into how they are likely affect the crucial Christmas trading period.
The monitor shows that €3.96 billion is likely to be spent in shops this December, up from €3.88 billion last year, with Irish households set to spend between €650 and €750 more in shops this month, than other months of the year.
The monitor, from Ibec’s retail division, shows that sales in the first nine months of this year are up 1.5% in value terms on the same period last year and it pointed to rising employment as a key driver of greater spending.
Retail Ireland’s most recent forecasts said there would be about 35,000 more people at work since last Christmas and almost 96,000 more than there were in Christmas 2012.
Disposable income has continued to climb. It increased by 3.3% in 2013 and Retail Ireland said it expected it to grow by a similar percentage this year after significant falls between 2008 and 2012.
Consumer sentiment is at its highest since 2007, with the annualised average of the ESRI/KBC consumer sentiment index 30% higher than in 2013 and 70% higher than in 2008 and 2009.
Retail Ireland said competition remained intense across the retail sector and it anticipated that prices would be kept down. At present, goods inflation is at minus 2% annually as shops battle for footfall.
Sales period
Goods prices this December are on course to be at their lowest level since December 2002, with downward pressure expected to continue into the post-Christmas sales period.
However, he warned that retailers were still paying “unsustainable high rents” and called on the Government to back Senator Feargal Quinn’s Bill on upward-only rent reviews.
View Media Article by Conor Pope
The Irish Residential Properties (I-RES) REIT has agreed a deal with the Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAPREIT) that will provide it with an additional €150m in acquisition funding which is to be used for expanding its portfolio of high-quality properties.
CAPREIT has also been selected as the preferred bidder to acquire the “Rockbrook” property portfolio for approximately €88.9m, which is the first proposed transaction to utilise the pipeline facility.
Since its establishment, IRES has deployed all of the €192m net proceeds from its IPO and utilised €125m of the €130m credit facility it agreed with Barclays.
The centre is for sale by private treaty from Joint selling agents Bannon and Bundoran-based Sean Meehan & Co. The property is being sold on the instructions of receiver Tom Kavanagh of Deloitte.
The shopping centre is located right in the town centre and features significant amounts of on-site parking. It includes an anchor store of 734.3 sq.m and twelve retail units over two levels comprising 649 sq.m. There are three well-proportioned office suites on the first floor.
The current rent roll is €37,580 with an immediate opportunity for potential purchasers to increase revenues through active lettings.
There are 12 retail units and an anchor store with a further 3 office suites on the first floor.
At present three of the retail units are occupied with the anchor store also under offer.
The three office suites are occupied two of which are held under a short term tenancy with the HSE.
The agents expect strong interest with the quoted price level at an attractive €650,000, given the centre’s proximity to the seaside resort of Bundoran, the commercial centre of Donegal Town and the adjoining County Fermanagh hinterland.
The anchor store was formally occupied by a Mace supermarket. The supermarket closed in May last year.
Please contact Jennifer Mulholland of Bannon today for further information on 01 6477900
Five relatively small provincial shopping centre are to be offered for sale on the instructions of Nama.
Joint agents Bannon and Lisney are to seek in excess of €50 million for the grocery-led centres in Dungarvan, Thurles, Mullingar, Navan and Cashel which are to be sold in a single lot.
The Harvest Portfolio is producing a combined rent of €4.8 million which will give the purchaser an initial yield of just over 9%. Deloitte, the professional services group, is co-coordinating the sale of the various centres which are anchored by leading multiples Dunnes Stores, Supervalu and Tesco. In only one case – Cashel – the anchor store rented by Tesco is included in the sale. There are more than 100 traders in all in the various centres which have an overall floor area of 24,154 sq.m (260,000 sq.ft) and a vacancy rate of 2,787 sq.m (30,000 sq.ft).
The portfolio also includes more than five acres of development land, much of which is expected to be used if the pick up in the retail market continues. Whoever buys the centres will inevitably press to have the vacant commercial space let.
The overall rent is about €1.5 million and the weighted average unexpired leases work out at 11 years. One of the attractions here is that the sale includes 4.5 acres which are zoned for “town centre” use. Dunnes Stores Thurles Shopping Centre has an overall retail area of 4,645 sq.m (50,000 sq.ft) apart altogether from the main supermarket which is owned by Dunnes Stores.
The centre is producing a rental income of €1.15 million and with an average of 6.9 years still unexpired on the various leases the centre could well be valued at about €12 million. Dunnes are also the principal player in Harbour Place Shopping Centre in Mullingar which is trading well and is valued at about €10 million. The line of tenants includes Boots, Holland & Barrett and Peter Mark and the rental income comes to €970,000. Typical leases have another 5.44 years to run. Cashel Town Shopping Centre is the only purpose built retail complex in town and with Tesco contributing most of the rental income of €730,000 on a long term lease the overall value of the complex is likely to be at least €8 million. The average unexpired lease term is 12 years.
Tesco also operate a petrol filling station between the centre and junction 9 of the M8 motorway. Whoever buys the portfolio will undoubtedly launch a renewed marketing campaign to find tenants for about 20 shops lying vacant in what is an impressive looking centre.
The fifth retail complex in the portfolio, Johnstown, is located more than two miles from Navan on the edge of a string of housing estates owned mainly by Dublin workers attracted by cheaper house prices during the boom. Best-run supermarket The centre has what many shoppers acknowledge is the best-run supermarket in town – Supervalu.
The remaining tenants, including Hickeys pharmacy and Boyle Sports, contribute to the overall rental income of €425,000. The average lease term remaining here is 13.5 years and a new owner could increase the rental return if a tenant can be found for around 929 sq.m (10,000 sq.ft) of office space over the complex. The Johnstown centre is thought to have a valuation of about €4 million.
Rod Nowlan of Bannon and Duncan Lyster of Lisney said the sale provided investors with an opportunity to access “the improving Irish economy through a resilient collection of grocery-led retail schemes which are embedded in strong regional towns.”
The various assets provided strong cash flows from tenants that were largely paying rebased rents. Each of the schemes offered significant asset enhancement opportunities to improve their position in their respective markets and enhance returns.
For more details please contact Rod Nowlan of Bannon today on 01 6477900 or for more information visit www.harvestportfolio.com
Regatta, the high performance outdoor wear brand, is opening a flagship store at the Pavilions Shopping Centre today, with another store to follow in Athlone Town Centre soon. Congrats to the Bannon letting team.
Regatta is the UK’s largest supplier of outdoor and leisure clothing and a leading player in the European market. The chain currently operates a €10 million-a-year wholesaling business and 10 concession outlets based in Shaws department stores, together with a standalone retail outlet in the Crescent shopping centre in Limerick.
Ardstone Capital, the private investment manager, and CBRE Global Investment Partners, have bought 2 Harbourmaster Place for €37.85 million in a deal that will show a net initial yield of 5.4%.
The 5,688 sq.m (61,012 sq.ft) multi-let building close to the main entrance of the IFSC and Connolly Station has a mix of tenants in the block including KPMG, Wells Fargo, Bank of Montreal, Kleinworth Benson, Aspen Reinsurance and United Health Group.
Ardstone was advised by the Bannon agency while JLL acted for Irish Life.
2 Harbourmaster Place is the seventh office investment in the area to have changed hands this year as long-term investors availed of the pick-up in the market to offload assets on which they claimed 100 per cent capital allowances over a 10-year period.
Hambleden House
19-26 Pembroke Street Lower
Dublin 2
D02 WV96
Ireland
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Phone: +353 (1) 6477900
Fax: +353 (1) 6477901
Email: info@bannon.ie