Ires Reit founder Capreit joins forces with activist investor

Ires Reit’s Canadian founder Capreit has indicated it will join forces with an activist investor that has been pressing for the largest Irish private residential landlord to put itself up for sale.

Vision Capital, which owns 5 per cent of Ires, said on Tuesday that it has been advised that fellow Toronto-based investor Capreit, which owns 18.7 per cent, will join it in voting against a series of resolutions at the Irish company’s upcoming annual general meeting on May 4th.

Vision Capital added that it is now planning to vote against the re-election of Ires’s chief executive Margaret Sweeney, in addition to its previously signalled campaign to get other investors to join it in voting against group chairman Declan Moylan, and three other directors.

Irish portfolio

Representatives for Capreit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Capreit, which set up Ires in 2014 and floated it on the Irish stock market, was replaced last year as the investment manager of the Irish company’s portfolio, which now comprises almost 4,000 homes, as the day-to-day running was brought in-house.

Vision Capital launched a public attack against Ires in an open letter to shareholders two weeks ago, after the company resisted its efforts to have the business put on the market, given that the stock trades at a deep discount to its inherent value.

Ires said last week that it is not clear whether now was the best time for a sale, with valuations under pressure across the European real estate investment trust (Reit) sector.

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However, it said that it was planning to sell €100 million of assets, as it seeks to maintain sufficient headroom over legal and financial debt covenants in a market of declining commercial property values.

Vision Capital came out against the disposals programme in a second open letter on Tuesday, saying: “We urge Ires’s board not to proceed with any further asset sales at this juncture until a clear, longer-term strategy that benefits from shareholder-aligned board of directors representation is advanced and communicated.”

Luxury apartments

It emerged late last week that Ires is looking to sell its upmarket Marker apartment block in Dublin’s docklands, comprising 85 luxury two-bedroom apartments in Grand Canal Dock, with a price tag of about €70 million. It is said to be in talks to sell the block to Irish Life Investment Managers.

Ires also recently agreed a €20 million sale of its Rockbrook development site in Sandyford, Dublin 18, which has planning permission for more than 400 apartments —having abandoned plans to build the units itself.