Davidson Kempner bags Irish National portfolio for €170m

Davidson Kempner, a US investment fund, is believed to have signed the acquisition of the National Portfolio of five regional retail parks from Bank of Ireland for over €170 mln.

Property advisers Savills and JLL launched the marketing of the 101,000 m2 package in June after having been appointed by two separate receivers.

The guide price of €162 mln equated to an initial yield of 7.2%, based on current annual gross income of €12.2 mln. The portfolio has a WAULT of 10 years.

A big chunk of Ireland’s retail stock – or €1.1 bn - has changed hands over the past 18 months, according to research from agent CBRE.

Natalie Brennan, director of investment at CBRE’s capital markets team in Ireland, noted that the Irish retail property market has seen 'a major shift in ownership'. 'In the past, the bulk of Ireland’s shopping centres traded at market peak in 2006 and 2007 with yields as low as 3%. At that time buyers were mostly institutions such as Irish Life, Deka, IPUT and Chartered Land. On the contrary, all the malls that have traded over the past 18 months went to private equity companies including Davidson Kempner and Varde which accounted for 38% of the shopping centre and retail park acquisitions, whereas opportunistic investors such as Marathon and Oaktree accounted for 21% of the spend,’ commented Brennan.