Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund is reportedly in the running to purchase an Irish real estate loan portfolio valued at €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion).
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is understood to be a lead contender to buy Project Jewel – a loan portfolio that includes debt secured on Dundrum Town Centre, a 120,000 sq m shopping centre in Dublin, among others – according to the Sunday Times.
Project Jewel is controlled by Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency (Nama), the government body that took over the country’s distressed real estate assets during the downturn.
If the deal goes ahead, it would be ADIA’s second investment in Irish real estate in one week.
Last Thursday, it was reported that ADIA had teamed up with Irish developer Chartered Land to buy the two former Jurys and Berkeley Court hotels for €155 million.
The properties sit on a seven-acre plot in one of Dublin’s most affluent neighbourhoods.
Chartered Land also owns 40 percent of Dundrum Town Centre. The other shareholders are the estate of the late investors Liam Maye and John Fitzsimons.
However, according to the Sunday Times, Chartered Land is a Nama debtor and therefore barred from bidding for Project Jewel.
But the developer is already asset manager on some of the other Jewel properties – including a 50 percent stake in the Pavilions shopping centre in the Dublin suburb of Swords, and the ILAC shopping centre in Dublin city centre – and is expected to continue in this role should a sale take place.
First-round bids for Project Jewel are expected in the coming weeks.
Chartered Land’s founder and executive chairman Joe O’Reilly reportedly told the Irish government’s banking inquiry last week that he is confident he will repay €2 billion in loans owed to Nama, and that he had already repaid €600 million.
Follow us on
