It has been reported that Hibernia Real Estate Investment Trust is borrowing €400m from three banks in order to add to its stock of central Dublin offices and buy distressed property loans.
In an article on the Irish Times, the firm said that it had agreed a new €400 million credit facility with Barclays, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank, which will replace the existing €100 million loan due that’s due for repayment in August 2017.
Details of the new loan were revealed after pretax profits for six months were announced to the end of September. Profits for the first half of its financial year more than doubled, being at €73.7 million from €32 million over that same period in 2014.
Chief Executive, Kevin Nowlan said that this cash probably will be used to buy further offices in the central business district of Dublin, where 83 per cent of its assets being there.
Mr Nowlan added that demand for offices in central Dublin is ever growing, with Hibernia currently having a number of refurbishing and redeveloping jobs on commercial blocks.
He says: “We think that there is three million square feet of demand in the market. At the moment, 2.5 million square feet is begin built and 1.5 million of that is pre-leased. Those numbers are very healthy.”
Work has just commenced on a total of 180,000 sq ft of space, which includes Windmill Lane, that needs €76 million of investment.
Kevin Nowlan says there are “a lot of the constraints in the market are in construction” and that the industry is now a quarter of the size it was during the property bubble burst eight years ago.
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