Zara founder in €225m deal for Dublin logistics scheme

The family firm of Zara founder Amancio Ortega has paid about €225 million for a major logistics investment at Dublin’s Baldonnell Business Park.

The sale by industrial and logistics property development specialist Mountpark of the scheme’s second phase to Pontegadea is the largest and most valuable logistics deal ever to have taken place in the Irish market.

The transaction, which is understood to have been completed last Friday, sees Mr Ortega’s firm securing ownership of some 1.2 million sq ft of fully occupied logistics space at the Baldonnell scheme. The news of the deal was first reported by the property website, React News.

Some 630,000sq ft of phase two at the park is occupied by Amazon. Pre-let to the online retail giant prior to its construction, the company’s e-fulfilment centre bears the distinction of being the largest single “build-to-suit” pre-let warehouse ever in the Irish market.

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Other high-profile tenants in Mountpark Baldonnell’s second phase include German-headquartered logistics provider DB Schenker, United Drug and Home Store + More. The €225 million paid for the portfolio represents a net initial yield of just under 5 per cent.

Cushman & Wakefield acted for Pontegadea on the transaction while CBRE represented Mountpark.

Pontegadea made its first foray into Ireland’s commercial property market last March, paying just more than €100 million for 120 rental apartments at Opus at Six Hanover Quay in Dublin’s south docklands.