Yew Grove to tap shareholders if opportunities are found

Real estate investor Yew Grove Reit may tap shareholders for more funds depending on "what happens in the market", the company's chief executive, Jonathan Laredo, said after its annual general meeting (agm) on Friday.

The company, which invests in office and industrial assets outside of Dublin’s central business district, has spent the €75 million it raised from shareholders at the time of its initial public offering (IPO) last year on acquiring a series of assets.

“If we find opportunities to invest in, that fit within our investment profile, then we’ll ask shareholders for more money,” Mr Laredo told The Irish Times.

Shareholders unanimously approved all of the company’s 15 resolutions put forward at the agm, moderated by chairman Barry O’Dowd.

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Recent acquisitions by the company include an office block in Cork Airport business park for €7.5 million, and a Waterford office building for €4 million.

In a market update last December, the company said it had deployed €76 million since its initial public offering in June 2018.

Development opportunities

A credit facility of €19.9 million means that it now has available resources of €16 million to acquire further properties. Its passing rent, as that of the market update in December, was €6.3 million per year.

Mr Laredo noted that the company will not look at development opportunities but will consider forward-funding some projects, as it recently did in Athlone when it backed the development of a car park for a tenant.

Asked for his view on the Dublin office market, Mr Laredo said there’s a “dearth of quality product and, given the strength of the Irish economy . . . that demand for both good industrial and good office space has some way to go”.

Shares in the company were unchanged on Friday at €0.98 while the company’s market value stood at €73.5 million.