Union Investment has marked its entry into the Irish hotel market with a €70m forward funding acquisition deal.

The Hamburg-based real estate investment manager has acquired a 262-room Premier Inn hotel in Dublin’s Docklands from Glenveagh Properties.

Glenveagh said Union Investment has acquired the planned development at Castleforbes as part of an approximately €70m forward funding arrangement that will result in Union Investment taking ownership of the hotel.

Union Investment said the asset is being acquired for the UniInstitutional European Real Estate fund.

Union Investment has been active in the Irish office property market since 2015. The company also recently entered the Irish housing market.

Andreas Löcher, head of investment management hospitality at Union Investment, said: “We are expecting demand for hotels to recover by 2023 – the year of completion – at the latest and we intend to further expand our high-quality portfolio through targeted acquisitions. It currently comprises around 80 hotels.

“We will focus primarily on core products with resilient concepts and operators. The planned Premier Inn hotel is a core property in one of Europe’s best performing hotel markets.”

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