German investor acquires Nutgrove Retail Park in € 65m-plus deal

Munich-based investor AM Alpha has acquired Nutgrove Retail Park in Dublin, home to retail outlets including Harvey Norman, Homebase and Aldi, in an off-market deal. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed but it's understood that the family office investor paid in excess of €65 million for the asset.

It’s the second major deal in the Dublin market for AM Alpha this year; it paid upwards of €95 million for a newly completed prime office building in Dublin’s south docklands in March.

Adjacent to the Nutgrove Shopping Centre, whose tenants include McDonald’s, Penneys and Dunnes Stores, Nutgrove Retail Park is in the suburb of Rathfarnham in south Dublin, about five minutes from Dundrum Town Centre and the M50. It is about 8.5 km from the city centre. It comprises some 197,700sq ft (18,400sq m) of mostly retail space. The park is fully let to a number of retail tenants, as well as the HSE for a public care centre.

Martin Lemke, managing director at AM Alpha, said the park is "a particularly well-established centre in an excellent surrounding".

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“This transaction is a perfect example of how we are implementing our goal of delivering sustainable value to our long-term investors. As we are very convinced of its further potential and future growth Ireland will continue to be a main focus for us and we will actively seek core and value-oriented investments across all sectors,” he said.

Back in 2015, US investment fund Davidson Kempner acquired Nutgrove Retail Park as part of a portfolio deal, known as the National Portfolio, with a combined value of about €170 million. At the time, the agents on the deal had put a value of € 62 million on Nutgrove. Other retail parks in the transaction were Letterkenny Retail Park, in Co Donegal, the Sligo Retail Park, the Tullamore Retail Park in Co Offaly, and the Deerpark Shopping Park in Killarney, Co Kerry.

CBRE acted as broker on the off-market deal, and AM Alpha was advised by law firms A&L Goodbody and Luther, and commercial property advisor TWM.

Earlier this year AM Alpha paid upwards of €95 million for a newly completed prime office building in Dublin’s south docklands. The German investor acquired 76 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay from developer TIO (Targeted Investment Opportunities, an umbrella fund involving Nama, Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital and Bennett Construction).

Retail parks

This year has seen sustained activity in the retail parks sector. In September, it was reported that the Marlet Group secured the Parks Collection, featuring three of Ireland's best-known retail parks, with a bid of about €78 million. The collection, which was put on the market by Marathon Asset Management, includes Belgard Retail Park in Tallaght, Dublin 24, the M1 Retail Park in Drogheda, Co Louth, and Poppyfield Retail Park in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

Marathon also brought another of its retail park assets to the market this year: Manor West Shopping Park. The Kerry retail park has an asking price of about €55 million.