Barings, one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers, has upped its involvement in the Irish market with an agreement to act as senior lender on a €70.1 million (62.5 per cent loan to value) facility to the JMK Group secured against the Holiday Inn Dublin Airport Hotel.
The 421-bedroom hotel, which opened for business in 2021, is being used temporarily as an accommodation centre for asylum seekers. The hotel (not to be confused with the Tifco group’s Holiday Inn Express at Dublin Airport) had been due originally to start trading in the first quarter of 2020, but its opening was delayed by the pandemic, which upended the travel and hospitality sectors.
The investment loan refinances the existing development facility provided by Fairfield Real Estate Finance (FREF) to fund the construction of the hotel. Barings and FREF, which provided a senior loan and a junior loan respectively, have agreed the facility for a four-year term.
The UK-based JMK Group, which was founded by Pakistani-Irish businessman Jalaluddin Kajani, also known as John Kajani, owns and operates three other hotels in Ireland: the Holiday Inn Express on O’Connell Street. the Hampton by Hilton Dublin City Centre, and the Waterford Marina Hotel.
Commenting on Fairfield and Barings’ decision to refinance the Holiday Inn Dublin Airport Hotel, Mr Kajani said: “We thank Fairfield for their belief in JMK and the Holiday Inn Dublin Airport project by supporting us via the development loan. We are pleased they have stayed on as part of the investment loan. We are excited to start a new beginning with Barings. We look forward to driving this hotel to be one of the best in Ireland.”
Eager to expand
Chris Bates, managing director and head of Europe real estate debt origination at Barings, said: “With our real estate debt activity in Europe continuing to grow, adding this loan secured against such a well-located asset in Ireland is the latest addition to our portfolio. As our loan book expands, we’re eager to identify further investment opportunities.”
Chris Davison, head of deal origination at FREF, said: “We are delighted to close this loan with Barings and to continue to support the growth of the JMK Group. Having supported the group through the development phase, it is great to see this hotel open and trading, with the potential to become one of the best hotels in Ireland.”
The provision of the loan to JMK comes just four months on from Barings’ agreement of two loans totalling €225 million to KKR and Palm Capital to finance their acquisition of industrial and logistics assets in Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area. Those loans marked Barings’s debut as a lender in the Irish logistics market.
In the first instance, Barings provided a five-year €188.5 million senior secured, floating-rate loan to support KKR and Palm Capital’s €195 million purchase of the Core portfolio, a collection of 73 industrial and logistics assets distributed across Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area. The portfolio is 97 per cent let to a range of occupiers, including investment-grade rating tenants. Its largest single asset is the 51-hectare (125-acre) Naas Enterprise Park in Kildare.
The second loan facility comprised a €36.7 million floating-rate, first-mortgage loan, to fund the acquisition of a portfolio of six last-mile, light-industrial properties in Dublin. With an initial three-year term, plus two one-year extension options, the debt is secured against a portfolio comprising a total area of 32,000sq m (345,000sq ft), which is 95 per cent occupied with a weighted average unexpired lease term of 7.5 years.
