Allianz Real Estate, with its joint-venture partner, United Kingdom property developer Hammerson, is to acquire the Project Jewel portfolio of loans secured against retail assets in Dublin, Ireland, including Dundrum Town Centre, the country’s major shopping and leisure centre.
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Kuwait Investment Authority is bidding on the $1.8bn worth Project Jewel.
The other assets being acquired as part of the portfolio are the second phase of Dundrum, a six-acre site which could be developed into a mixed-use project; The Pavilions, Swords, which offers 490,000 sq ft of retail space; and The Ilac Centre in Dublin.
The sites had been connected by Joe O’Reilly and his company Chartered Land.
The discount of 29 percent on the retail centre, anchored by Irelands only House of Fraser department store, represents a relatively lower cut than numerous European loans being offloaded at knockdown prices, particularly in Ireland where commercial prices fell by more than half after the bursting of the property bubble.
NAMA, however, said the portfolio was sold for €1.85bn.
A day previously official figures showed Irish retail sales rose by 9.3pc year-on-year in August.
“This agreement provides Hammerson with exposure to a significant new platform of high quality, well-let retail property as well as strategically located development opportunities in Ireland, Europe’s fastest growing economy”, said Hammerson chief executive David Atkins.
The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) was set up in 2009 following Ireland’s financial crash and paid a total of 32 billion euros to purge local banks of risky loans worth 74 billion euros.
In what is its largest transaction to date, NAMA confirmed on Tuesday the sales process attracted several bidders from across the globe.
Eastdil Secured, the USA investment firm, managed the sale on behalf of NAMA.
Earlier bidders included USA investment fund Davidson Kempner, JP Morgan and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
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The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of October.
