US investment giant Realty Income Reit has snapped up a portfolio of eight of Ireland’s best-known retail parks.
The sale by Oaktree Capital Management was formally announced today. While the price has not been disclosed, Realty is understood to have paid about €220 million for the parks which are distributed across the country.
Oaktree had acquired the retail parks for its part through its subsidiary, Targeted Investment Opportunities (TIO) in a series of transactions between 2015 and 2017.
The portfolio comprises Navan Retail Park; Bray Retail Park; Sligo Retail Park; Waterford Retail Park; Naas Retail Park; Drogheda Retail Park, Gateway Retail Park in Galway, and Parkway Retail Park in Limerick.
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Since acquiring the portfolio, Oaktree has overseen a significant programme of improvement by specialist asset manager, Sigma Retail Partners. Sigma focused on repositioning and improving the various parks’ tenant mix to drive customer growth and increase profitability.
In the case of Gateway Retail Park, Sigma oversaw the delivery of the scheme’s 140,000 sq ft second phase, bringing the scheme’s overall footprint to over 300,000 sq ft
Other additions to the portfolio included the opening of sports equipment retailer Decathlon’s first big store outside of Dublin, a 50,000 sq ft flagship outlet at Parkway Retail Park in Limerick, the opening of two new Harvey Norman stores in Sligo and Galway, and Jysk’s first store in Ireland at Naas Retail Park.
On a more general note, Sigma Retail Partners helped Oaktree to increase the rent roll across the portfolio by over 40 per cent since its acquisition.
Commenting on the sale of the portfolio, Sigma Retail Partners co-founder and managing director, Marcus Wren, said: “The sale of this portfolio is a testament to the value of a strategic, hands-on approach to asset management in collaboration with Oaktree’s wider professional team. We are excited about the future opportunities that lie ahead for Sigma and indeed the retail sector as a whole in Ireland.”
The Oaktree portfolio is Realty Income Reit’s second and most valuable investment in the Irish market to date. The US investor made its first acquisition here in 2023, when it paid Eden Capital €45.9 million for CityEast Retail Park in Limerick and Blackwater Retail Park in Navan, Co Meath.
