Property developer Johnny Ronan has set his sights on returning to the London market after his company marked a “liberation moment” in the settlement of a long court wrangle with former backer Fortress, the US investment firm.
“We’re keen to look abroad again,” said Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) chief executive Rory Williams, almost a fortnight after the Commercial Court heard the Fortress dispute was settled. “There is a desire to go back into London.”
Mr Williams said conclusion of the legal row meant RGRE was free to concentrate on landmark Dublin projects such as the Glass Bottle development near Sandymount and Citigroup’s new €300 million headquarters at the Waterfront site on North Wall Quay.
RGRE has also struck a deal to buy back four former assets that went into receivership one year ago. These include the Bewley’s cafe and PTSB buildings on Grafton Street, as well as St James’s House on Adelaide Road and a Percy Place building.
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“The resolution of our outstanding issues with Fortress Investment Group marks an important milestone in the RGRE journey. It is a liberation moment,” Mr Williams said.
“We have an excellent portfolio of assets in development and assets with development potential, and access to a pool of long-term finance for best-in-class projects,” he added.
“We can now focus our energy on that outstanding development portfolio and get back to doing what we do best, which is building great buildings.”
London is a market familiar to Mr Ronan from the pre-crash heyday of Treasury Holdings with his then business partner Richard Barrett.
Treasury bought the former Battersea power station in 2006, but the investment was sold six years later by the National Asset Management Agency, the State “bad bank” that mopped up soured property loans from Ireland’s banks. Treasury went into liquidation in 2012.
Asked whether RGRE might look beyond London, Mr Williams said it could go somewhere else but described the UK capital as the “obvious” location.
“It’s where all the Irish developers go,” he said. “Whether you’d find something of Battersea’s size and scale is doubtful.”
The Fortress settlement ends a fractious relationship. Fortress assumed some €1 billion Colony Capital loans to RGRE after Colony’s merger with DigitalBridge in 2021.
Mr Ronan was close to Colony founder Tom Barrack but the engagement with Fortress proved difficult. The first litigation was initiated within months of Fortress arriving.
In a 2022 deal RGRE swapped its stake in the Fibonacci Square complex in Ballsbridge with Fortress while Fortress handed over its interest in the Waterfront site to RGRE. Facebook owner Meta later scrapped plans to occupy the Fibonacci complex.
The new Citigroup building on the Waterfront site is next door to the site where RGRE plans a 25-storey apartment tower, if not taller.
The 25-storey tower in RGRE’s planning application with Dublin City Council would be the city’s tallest. Still, the High Court has ordered An Bord Pleanála to reconsider a RGRE application it previously rejected to build as high as 45 storeys on the site.
The Fortress dispute went to the Commercial Court after RGRE sought damages for breach of contract, unlawful interference with contractual relations and other claims. Fortress denied the claims.
RGRE current financiers include Landfair, led by former Colony Capital managing director Stefan Jaeger. It is RGRE’s partner on plans to redevelop Citigroup’s current North Wall Quay building when the bank moves to its new office.
The Glass Bottle partner is US firm Oaktree. The project comprises almost 4,000 apartments and a million square feet of commercial space.
RGRE also plans a deepwater port at Bremore, Co Meath, with Drogheda Port Company.
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