REInvest enters Dublin market with first investment acquisition

Luxembourg-based real estate investor REInvest Asset Management SA has made its first investment in Ireland, paying €65 million for a prime office building in Dublin city centre.

The property at 5 Harcourt Road forms part of the Capital Collection, a portfolio of five prime Dublin offices that UK-headquartered Henderson Park acquired as part of its €1.34 billion buyout of Green Reit in 2019.

Eastdil Secured was appointed in January 2020 to handle the sale of the Capital Collection in one or more lots. The portfolio, which is distributed across Dublin’s core central business district also included One Molesworth Street, 2 Burlington Road, 30-33 Molesworth Street, and Fitzwilliam Hall.

News of REInvest’s acquisition of 5 Harcourt Road comes five months after Sofidy, a subsidiary of French alternative investment group Tikehau Capital, paid €30.35 million for Fitzwilliam Hall. Before that, the German investor KanAm Grund paid €60 million on August 6th, 2020 to secure ownership of 30-33 Molesworth Street, while one week earlier, another German investor, KGAL, paid €94 million for the Dublin headquarters of the EBS Building Society at 2 Burlington Road. The sale of One Molesworth Street has yet to be completed.

In the case of 5 Harcourt Road, REInvest has purchased the property for the DEREIF SICAV-FIS fund which invests in European real estate. The main investor in the Luxembourg-based real estate special fund is a major German insurance company.

Completed in 2018 and certified with the LEED Gold real estate sustainability accreditation, 5 Harcourt Road comprises 4,700 sq m (50,590 sq ft) of lettable space distributed over seven floors, a large roof terrace, 14 underground car parking spaces, and 60 bicycle parking spaces. The property is fully let to WeWork, the world’s biggest provider of co-working and serviced office space on a 20-year lease with no break options from July 2018. WeWork is paying an annual rent of €3 million.

REInvest’s arrival in Ireland brings to 13 the number of European countries in which it holds investments. Established in 2007, the company manages and develops properties across Europe with a value in excess of €2.3 billion.

Commenting on REInvest’s acquisition of 5 Harcourt Road, the company’s project manager and head of international transactions, Daniel Hohls-Larsson, said: “With this investment, we have not only acquired our first property in Dublin, but importantly, we have secured a top office building with long-term rental income for our investors thanks to the very long lease.”

Christophe Kuhbier, managing director at Henderson Park said: “The sale of this prime office building to REInvest, its first investment in the Irish property market, underscores international real estate investors’ continued conviction in the ability of prime Dublin office assets to deliver long-term investor returns. Consistent with our business plan, the sale of 5 Harcourt Road enables us to further accelerate investment into our Irish development pipeline, supported by our belief in the highly favourable long-term fundamentals underpinning Dublin’s real estate sector, and the city’s continued position as an international centre of business.”

REInvest was advised on its acquisition of 5 Harcourt Road by Robert Murphy of Murphy Mulhall and legally supported by Addleshaw Goddard.