An investment vehicle headed by Meath-based investor Eamonn Duignan is understood to be actively pursuing opportunities to acquire large retail schemes both here and in the UK.
Three weeks ago, KLX Real Estate Partners, where Duignan serves as chief executive, was one of several parties involved in the second and final round of bidding in a highly competitive sales process for Merry Hill shopping centre near Birmingham in the UK.
While the West Midlands development had been guiding at a price of €305 million (£270 million) through agent Knight Frank, specialist retail investor Redical is understood to have secured preferred bidder status with an offer of €328 million (£290 million). That offer was just enough to edge out competing bids from KLX and two others, namely Mike Ashley’s Fraser Group and Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ikea’s largest franchisee, the Ingka Group. All three parties are understood to have tabled offers of more than €317 million (£280 million). Merry Hill had been owned by UK shopping centre investor Intu Properties before its collapse in 2020.
In terms of scale, the West Midlands scheme is the UK’s ninth biggest shopping centre by spend and comprises 200 shops and 7,500 car-parking spaces across 1.6 million sq ft on a 92-acre site, making it significantly larger than Ireland’s biggest shopping centres. By way of comparison, Dublin’s Blanchardstown Centre, which sold for €562 million to US-headquartered Strategic Value Partners last year, extends to 1.2 million sq ft with 180 shops and restaurants and 5,500 car-parking spaces, while Dundrum Town Centre has 170 shops and services, and 3,000 car-parking spaces across an area of 1.2 million sq ft. Liffey Valley has 96 shops and 3,400 car-parking spaces distributed over 825,000sq ft.
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KLX Real Estate Partners is understood to have been supported in its bid for Merry Hill by the Milan-headquartered pan-European real estate investment firm Emerald Pine Capital. Emerald Pine recently supported US investors Oaktree and Redbird, the respective owners of football clubs Inter Milan and AC, in their acquisition for €197 million of the San Siro stadium from the City of Milan. The clubs will now progress with a plan to demolish the existing stadium and replace it with a new 71,500-all-seater venue.
