Hibernia sells Dublin office blocks to Commerz for €152m

Hibernia Reit has sold two prime office blocks in Dublin's docklands to German property giant Commerz Real for €152.3 million. The Dublin-listed company said it had completed the sale of its refurbished One and Two Dockland Central blocks in the International Financial Services Sector to Commerz.

Hibernia purchased the adjoining office blocks in July 2014 for €90.8 million. A further €21 million was invested in refurbishing and expanding the office accommodation.

The properties were constructed in 2000 and are situated on Guild Street in Dublin’s north docks. They comprise 147,500sq ft of office accommodation across two blocks, with parking spaces for 144 cars and 167 bikes.

They are fully let to a range of occupiers, primarily from the technology, banking and capital markets and State agency sectors, with contracted rental income of €8 million per annum.

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"During our ownership, One and Two Dockland Central has been a good example of the type of active asset management in which we specialise," Edwina Governey, chief investment officer of Hibernia, said.

“Having acquired the property in 2014, we negotiated lease surrenders from the main tenants, upgraded and expanded the lettable area before re-letting it to a mix of high-quality occupiers, unlocking significant value for our shareholders,” she said.

"The sale will enable us to recycle capital into the delivery of our Clanwilliam Quarter and Harcourt Square office clusters," she added.

Assessing the transaction, Goodbody Stockbrokers noted the disposal was marginally above book value, “and indeed versus our numbers, this sale is 3 per cent ahead of our €148 million valuation”.

“This property was one of Hibernia’s earliest acquisitions post-IPO and it has created considerable value at this building on the north docks with a targeted refurbishment and re-letting plan,” it said.