Green Property exits UK market

Green Property has formally exited the UK property market after selling properties worth some €950 million over the past 12 months.

The company yesterday said that it had sold the bulk of its remaining UK portfolio to Mr John Andersen's Burford Group in a deal worth £400 million sterling (€580 million).

Green, which was taken private in a leveraged buyout last year, has also sold most of its 50 per cent share in a 425,000 sq ft Fleet Street property to an unnamed syndicate put together by Dublin-based tax advisers Warren and Partners. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Green will continue to manage the property.

Agreement has also been reached with Green's joint-venture partner, Goldman Sachs's Whitehall Fund, for the disposal of a property in the St James area of London.

Mr Stephen Vernon, Green managing director, said the latest sales would enable the company to focus on new projects, primarily in the Republic.

"Green is now a purely Irish company," said Mr Vernon, who led the Merrill Lynch and ICC-backed buyout last year.

Green's flagship Irish property is the Blanchardstown Centre in Dublin, where work recently began on a 130,000 sq ft extension.

Mr Vernon said Blanchardstown would remain a long-term investment for the company but acknowledged that other Irish properties could be culled in the future.

Green has sold some €350 million of its Irish portfolio over the past year as part of its post-buyout strategy. When the company was taken private, it held properties worth about €1.9 billion.

Mr Vernon highlighted difficulties in relation to a Ballymun joint venture, in which Green is involved with Ballymun Regeneration in the construction of offices.

He said agreement on a new focus for the project amid a slowing in the office market had been "disappointingly slow to materialise". Green has already spent €6 million on the 100-acre Ballymun site.

"It's very difficult to make progress," said Mr Vernon.