Starwood to put €35.1m in Irish property loan
The property portfolio represents a total of over 600,000 sq ft in central Dublin, writes Sean Pollock
A SUBSIDIARY of US investment giant Starwood Capital Group, a property investment firm, has committed to invest €35.1m into a loan secured against 12 properties in Dublin.
According to a filing on the London Stock Exchange, posted last week by Starwood’s London-listed European business, the investments were made by the Starwood European Real Estate Fund. The filing lists activity which took place at the fund over the fourth quarter of 2019.
The properties the loan is secured against are primarily office developments, but include some small retail and residential space.
The filing states that the property portfolio represents a total of more than 600,000 sq ft (55,740 sq m) of space located in central Dublin.
Starwood European Real Estate Fund, which is worth £415.3m (€492m), said that the loan was secured against the portfolio of Dublin properties on January 2. It entered the agreement alongside Starwood Property Trust, a related fund.
Starwood’s loan has been provided over a six-year period at a floating rate, with the property investor stating that it “expects to earn an attractive risk-adjusted return in line with its stated investment strategy”.
An external spokesman for the firm — headed by Barry Sternlicht (pictured), chairman and chief executive of Starwood Capital Group — declined to comment on the new loan.
Starwood also announced that it had received the remaining loan balance of €14.1m from a logistics investment following a sale of the portfolio. It also received the remaining €2.2m balance from a loan secured in the residential sector, following
“completion of the borrower’s business plan”. As of the end of 2019, the fund stated that it had 18 investments and commitments totalling £489m.
The London Stock Exchange filing also states that Ireland accounts for 12.6pc of all of Starwood’s invested assets.
In the filing, Starwood said the company remained “fully invested with approximately £27m of net debt and commitments of approximately £75m”.
It added that the group’s “pipeline remains strong and well-diversified by sector, geography and investment type”.
On Starwood’s website, the company lists a €60m loan to finance the acquisition of a hotel, 27 apart-hotel units and ancillary development land in Dublin. It lists a €9m loan used to finance the conversion of 84 units into residential use.
It also lists a €14.7m commitment to support a mixed-use development in Dublin.
The website additionally lists its completed projects in Dublin and Cork, which include loans provided against residential portfolios, student accommodation and schools, worth €50.4m Late last year, Starwood Capital was believed to have scrapped a planned sale of a portfolio of Dublin offices. Blackstone subsequently bought the so-called ‘cedar portfolio’ of offices for more than €530m.
Offices covered by the sale include the Watermarque Building and Iveagh Court, which counted tenants including Marsh & McLennan and We Work.
Earlier last year, Starwood was in talks with investment group Tetrarch Capital about a joint venture partnership that would be worth several hundred million euro, and replace the Irish-owned hotelier’s plan for a public flotation. However, the talks ended without any agreement.