UK property fund plans another €63m of deals in Ireland

London-listed Primary Health Properties, a real-estate investment trust that has invested in five Irish primary care centres in the past two years, is working on an almost further €63 million of deals in the Republic.

In a presentation to analysts this week, the company said that it has an additional €39 million of acquisitions currently going through the legal process, with a further €24 million in the pipeline.

Group managing director Harry Hyman said that he would be "disappointed" if the company hadn't invested €100 million in Ireland by the time its full-year results were published next February. The company is ultimately targeting between €150-€160 million of primary care assets in the Republic, he said.

“As we build our portfolio, more people know about us. It isn’t that there isn’t competition, we don’t want to overpay, but being able to forward deals is a definite advantage in the Irish market because there is a real lack of development finance in Ireland,” Mr Hyman said on a call with analysts as the company unveiled interim results this week.

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Bray development

Earlier this month, Primary Health Properties said it would provide more than €22 million in development funding for a new primary care centre in Bray, Co Wicklow, with three-quarters of the rent roll set to come from the HSE under a 25-year lease. The remainder of the space will be let by a GP practice, pharmacy, coffee shop and car park operator.

The fund entered the Irish market in October 2016 after purchasing a then newly built 2,800sq m centre in Tipperary for €6.7 million.

Earlier this year, Primary Health Properties raised $115 million (€129 million) through a share sale to fund further deals in Britain and Ireland.

The FTSE 250-listed property trust currently owns 308 properties valued at over £1.4 billion, with its portfolio delivering £37.4 million of rental income for the first six months of the year, up from £34.8 million for the same period in 2017. The company’s three completed Irish assets were valued at £33.4 million at the end of June.