Final bids expected for glass bottle site in Ringsend

The week in business: Nama has placed a minimum bid value of €125 million on the site

Nama has sought investor interest to develop the land on the Poolbeg Peninsula in Dublin’s east end for 3,500 apartments and 1 million sq ft of commercial development.  Photograph: Cyril Byrne / The Irish Times
Nama has sought investor interest to develop the land on the Poolbeg Peninsula in Dublin’s east end for 3,500 apartments and 1 million sq ft of commercial development. Photograph: Cyril Byrne / The Irish Times

Monday

Indicators: OECD Business and Finance Outlook 2019 publication; UK construction output (July), industrial and manufacturing production (July), goods trade balance (July), GDP (July), construction orders (Q2); German exports and imports (July).

Other: European Union chief negotiator for the UK exiting the EU Michel Barnier, is to deliver a William J Clinton Leadership lecture on Brexit and the Future of Europe, in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast.

Tuesday

Results: Cairn Energy; CPL; 888 Holdings; Bovis Homes Group; Harworth Group; HD Supply Holdings, Team17 Group.

Indicators: Irish new vehicle sales (Aug); UK unemployment (July), average earnings (July); US business optimism index (Aug).

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Meetings: Credit Union Managers Association conference (Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone).

Other: Apple expected to launch new iPhone.

Wednesday

Indicators: Irish tourism and travel statistics (Q2), building and construction index (Q1); US mortgage applications and rates (Aug), PPI (Aug), wholesale inventories (July).

Meetings: Dell Technologies Forum (RDS, Dublin 4); Launch of research report on gender, pensions and income in retirement (Economic and Social Research Institute, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2).

Thursday

Results: Cairn Homes.

Indicators: Irish aviation statistics (Q2), consumer price index (Aug), residential property price index Euro zone industrial production (July); German inflation (July); (Aug); US inflation (Aug).

Meetings: ECB interest rate announcement; Secure Computing Forum (RDS, Dublin 4); Women in Finance Dublin two-day conference (Convention Centre Dublin).

Cairn results

Cairn Homes will publish its first set of results since it announced the departure of chief financial officer Tim Kenny in July. While his leaving was considered an unwelcome development at the property developer, all attention on Thursday will turn to its financial performance, given the strength of its operations.

At the time the company announced Mr Kenny was to leave, it owned a 15,100-unit land bank across 32 residential development sites, 90 per cent of which were located in the general Dublin area with public transport and infrastructure links.

It was building on 15 sites in the general Dublin area with targets to deliver more than 5,250 new homes.

In August, Cairn Homes appeared to be making headlines for all the right reasons, including upping the ante at the RTÉ Montrose site it bought in Donnybrook over two years ago for €107.5 million. Planning papers were lodged with An Bord Pleanála to build 611 apartments, 111 more than the original 500 it indicated for the 8.64 acre (3.49 hectare) site.

It also sold 282 apartments at the Quarter in Citywest, west Dublin, to Urbeo, the Irish residential investment platform for €94 million.

Friday

Indicators: Irish quarterly national accounts (Q2), trade statistics (Jun); Euro zone labour cost index and wage growth (Q2); US retail sales (Aug), import and export prices (Aug), business inventories (July).

Meetings: Eurogroup meeting; Dublin Economics Workshop (Clayton Hotel, Wexford).

Glass bottle site to test market

If the market is a true measure of value, then a price for the former glass bottle site in Dublin's Ringsend should come one step closer to realisation in the coming weeks.

This Friday sees the National Asset Management Agency’s (Nama) deadline for queries from potential bidders for the site before actual bids are submitted early next month.

It has been a long road. The high profile plot of land sold for more than €400 million at the height of the Celtic Tiger building frenzy. Last July, in a telling correction of those heady times, Nama placed a minimum bid value of €125 million.

It will also mark the beginning of the end to a long running cautionary tale of property development – the site has remained untouched for two decades.

While Friday will be the last opportunity for bidder queries, exactly when the identity of a successful applicant will be made known is not yet clear. A first round of bidding will end on October 10th.

Nama has sought investor interest to develop the land on the Poolbeg Peninsula in Dublin’s east end for 3,500 apartments and 1 million sq ft of commercial development, as well as a school site and community and public open spaces.

The agency will retain a 20 per cent shareholding and only cash bids above €125 million that are not subject to debt finance will be considered.

Conditions also stipulate that the two plots of land on the site, amounting to 2.6 acres, must not be used “for any purpose other than for affordable housing”.