US-based investment firm Strategic Value Partners’s (SVP) recently-agreed purchase of the Blanchardstown Centre in Dublin was set at a price of €562 million, marking a 25 per cent discount on the value of the retail complex when Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs took it over four years ago, according to sources.
The price is also below the €600 million level that SVP was said over the summer to have bid for the centre, covering 1.2 million square feet and housing over 180 shops and restaurants.
Goldman Sachs put the Blanchardstown Centre back on the market last year with a guide price at the time of €650 million-€725 million.
Retail property assets have been hit hard in recent years as a result of a spike in interest rates and changing shopping habits as the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated ecommerce.
A spokeswoman for SVP and spokesman for Goldman Sachs each declined to comment on the value of the deal.
The SVP deal, agreed last month, marks a third change of control over the complex, off the M50 motorway in west Dublin, in less than a decade.
US private equity giant Blackstone spent €950 million buying Blanchardstown Centre from its developer Green Property Group in 2016. Goldman Sachs, among the financial backers of Blackstone’s investment, took control of the State’s largest mall at the onset of the pandemic in 2020 by swapping debt for equity as rental income fell sharply, driven by the liquidation of Debenhams, a former anchor tenant. That deal valued the centre at €750 million.
Greenwich, Connecticut-headquartered SVP said last month, as it confirmed it had agreed to buy the centre for an undisclosed sum, that it plans to make significant investments in the centre, including enhancements to its food and beverage offerings. SVP will work closely with Fingal County Council, existing tenants, and the centre’s asset manager, Falcon Asset Management, “to elevate the centre’s appeal and strengthen its position as a premier retail destination for visitors and tenants alike”, it said at the time.
The closure of the deal comes three months after Eagle Street Partners, a property asset manager founded by two former senior Glenveagh Properties executives, acquired The Square in Tallaght for about €130 million. Receivers had been appointed by lenders AIB in May. Eagle Street partnered with Arrow Capital on the acquisition.
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