Intercom set to sublet half of new Dublin HQ to US investment giant

US-headquartered investor KKR is closing in on a deal to rent just under 50,000sq ft of office space at Irish-founded technology company Intercom’s new headquarters on Dublin’s Earlsfort Terrace.

Although heads of terms have yet to be agreed between the parties, The Irish Times understands that KKR is intent on occupying the top three floors of the newly-developed Cadenza building. Should the deal proceed Intercom will assign part of its lease with the building’s owner, Irish Life, to the global investment firm.

Intercom agreed to pre-let the entire building (10,300sq m/110,868sq ft) on an 18-year lease prior to the arrival of Covid-19 in December 2019. While the company let 62 of its Irish-based employees go last year as part of a wider reduction of its 1,000-strong global workforce, it remains to be seen what bearing, if any, its plan to sublet just under half of its new Dublin headquarter office will have on its remaining headcount or future expansion plans.

While Intercom continues to occupy the former headquarter offices of the now-defunct Anglo Irish Bank on St Stephen’s Green, it is expected to move its operations to the Cadenza building later this year. KKR, for its part, is believed to have explored the possibility of relocating its current Dublin headquarter office from its existing base at 75 St Stephen’s Green to the Clancourt Group’s Park Place office scheme before deciding on the Cadenza instead. Agent Cushman & Wakefield is representing KKR in its negotiations, while CBRE is understood to be acting for Intercom.

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KKR is a global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, credit and real assets, with $496 billion (€456bn) in assets under management as of September 30th, 2022.

Intercom, meanwhile, was founded in 2011 by Eoghan McCabe, Des Traynor, Ciarán Lee and David Barrett. The Dublin- and San Francisco-headquartered company, which claims more than a billion end users, has developed a software platform which brings messaging products for sales, marketing and customer support together. Its products allow companies to communicate with customers easily through their own websites, inside their respective web and mobile apps, and by email. Clients include Aer Lingus, Scottish Power, Eurotherm, Atlassian, Shopify and New Relic.

Intercom achieved so-called unicorn status in 2018 after raising $125 million to take its valuation to more than $1 billion.