Blackrock International Land has formed a new 50:50 joint venture with Irish fresh fruit provider Total Produce to acquire 55 hectares of land in Dublin for EUR 25 mln. The lands are located at The Ward in North County Dublin, close to the new N2 motorway.
Blackrock International Land has formed a new 50:50 joint venture with Irish fresh fruit provider Total Produce to acquire 55 hectares of land in Dublin for EUR 25 mln. The lands are located at The Ward in North County Dublin, close to the new N2 motorway.
Just over 14.5 hectares are zoned for agri-business use, 8 hectares of which have been targeted for the initial development of new facilities for Total Produce, including replacement premises for its existing operations in central Dublin. Under the joint venture agreement, Total Produce has an option to acquire these 8 hectares at cost. This option can be exercised during a maximum period of ten years from completion of the transaction.
The remaining 40 hectares adjoin Blackrock's existing 48-hectare holding at Corrstown, County Dublin. Blackrock said the sites are well placed to take advantage of the significant development expected to take place in this area of north Dublin over the next few years.
The vendors of the lands were subsidiaries of Balkan Investment Company, a company controlled by Neil McCann, which owns 6.38% of the share capital of Blackrock and 10.6% of the share capital of Total Produce. The joint venture company and the vendors engaged their own separate property advisors. Each of the parties also engaged their own separate legal advisors.
Dublin-based Blackrock was incorporated in 2006 to allow Irish-owned banana importer and fresh food specialist Fyffes to spin off its property portfolio. Blackrock, which is listed both in Dublin and on the AIM market of London Stock Exchange, has about EUR 410 mln worth of property holdings.