Irish-owned business park investor Fine Grain Property has agreed to buy the Westpark business campus in Shannon for more than €50 million.
The campus currently has 50 companies on site, including DHL, Pepper, Aercap and Enterprise Ireland, and has planning permission secured for 300,000 sq ft of tailored office space. As part of the deal, Fine Grain Property will buy the entire campus except for one building owned and occupied by Axa Insurance.
The purchase of the business campus brings to €175 million the total investment by Fine Grain Property over the past three years. The company has acquired 15 properties in Galway, Athlone, Limerick, Dublin and Cork.
"This deal is Fine Grain Property's largest to date and it demonstrates the value that the Mid-West offers both employers and business park operators. The acquisition of Westpark business campus adds to our existing portfolio of 200,000sqft of office space across four buildings in the National Technology Park in Plassey, Limerick," said Colin MacDonald, chief executive of Fine Grain Property.
"Our business is all about people - creating good workplace communities which help companies with recruitment, retention and employee satisfaction. Around 70 per cent of new FDI investment in Ireland comes from foreign multinationals already located here - and Fine Grain Property meets the needs of both international and domestic companies by providing the right mix of excellent facilities, access to trained people, and close proximity to educational institutions, critical infrastructure, and like-minded employers.
Westpark business campus was established in 2005 and developed by Westpark Shannon Limited’s principals, Brian & Bridget O’Connell.
“Our vision was to build a world class business park at this pivotal location in the Mid-West to attract high calibre global and Irish businesses across a range of sectors. The fact that we realised this vision, and built a sustainable profitable business, is a testament to our customers, our management and staff and more importantly, the flexible facilitation of our product offering,” said Mr O’Connell.
“I am delighted that an owner, the calibre of Fine Grain Property, is acquiring the Westpark business campus because I know that they will build on existing achievements and sustain and evolve the standards expected by current and prospective tenants. I have no doubt that, under their ownership, the campus will continue to attract serious international and domestic investment into the region.”
