Quinlan raises €725m for property fund

Quinlan Private, the investment vehicle of financier Derek Quinlan, today announced that it has raised €725 million ($1.1 billion) from Irish, UK and US investors to purchase European property.

The fund raised €325 million from Irish and UK clients and €400 million from US investors. The amount raised in the US exceeded expectations.

Quinlan Private said the US investors included endowments, life companies, and other leading institutional investors as well as high net worth individuals. This is the first time the investment fund raised capital from US investors. It has been raising equity capital in the US for around 12 months.

The Dublin-based company said the equity capital investment in the fund, including debt, had now reached €2.5 billion ($3.85 billion) and that the fund was now closed. Roughly half of this sum has already been invested, a spokesman said, adding that the remainder will be invested by the end of the year.

The fund has already made "significant" retail investments in Bulgaria and Slovakia and in office units in the Netherlands, UK and Germany. It is involved in office development projects in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia and hotel and leisure investments in the UK and across central and eastern Europe.

The investment group is expected to react to the downturn in western European property by focusing up to 70 per cent of its activity on central and eastern Europe.

Much of its activity in this region to date has gone into buying development land which will be developed by Quinlan Private Golub, the group's joint venture with Golub & Co of the US.

Quinlan Private Golub has developments worth more than €2 billion under construction, the largest being the €1.5 billion South City suburb in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Quinlan Private was a major investor behind the purchase last year of a chain of budget hotels owned by Jurys Doyle Hotel Group for €1.16 billion. The group plans to open around 50 Jurys Inns hotels in central and eastern Europe.

In a statement Mr Quinlan, chairman of Quinlan Private, said the fund would provide investors with an opportunity to invest in those European markets in which the company had expertise and almost 20 years experience.

Quinlan Private has more than €11.5 billion in assets under management, including hotels, shopping centres and office blocks.

Over the last five years, Quinlan Private has bought numerous UK properties including the Connaught, Savoy and Claridges hotels in London.