IRISH Life has disposed of three of its properties in Brussels in return for a stake in a Belgian property group. Under the terms of the deal, Irish Life will get a £35 million shareholding in Cofinimmo SA, in return for its Belgian properties.
The move marks another stage in a process which has seen Irish Life sell off over £60 million worth of property in the past couple of years. Last October, it emerged that Irish Life was reviewing its overseas property portfolio, worth £75 million, in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.
An Irish Life spokesman said last night that the company was not ruling out selling its remaining properties in Germany and the Netherlands. He said a range of options was being considered, but declined to say if the company had received offers for the properties.
Irish Life will receive a 9 per cent stake in Cofinimmo SA. Asked if Irish Life would get board representation, the spokesman said this was "under consideration".
He insisted that the deal did not constitute "selling" the Belgian properties, which comprise around 40 per cent of the company's overseas portfolio.
In a statement, Mr O'Brien, Irish Life's head property, said the company been reviewing its property holdings in Europe for some time. He said the company wanted to ensure it was in a position of influence in the property markets in which it was involved.
He said the deal ensured that Irish Life now had a degree of influence in the marketplace which would have been "extremely costly and time consuming to develop in our own right".
Cofinimmo said the deal would help it achieve its ambition to convert a yield property fund.
Irish Life was unable to say how much it had paid for the three Brussels buildings. It was involved in the development stage of all three buildings - two over 25 years ago and the most recent eight years ago. It would be impossible to give any relevant, purchase price, the Irish Life spokesman said.
Irish Life has been a heavy seller of Irish commercial property in recent years. In 1994 it sold 14 investments to Castle Market Holdings, a joint venture company set up by Treasury Holdings and the British based Jermyn Investment Company.
