US private equity giant Oaktree plans to line a UK property portfolio it is seeking to float in London with more than 700 apartments being developed on the former Irish Glass Bottle site, according to sources.
The apartments are part of an initial phase of homes being constructed on the 37-acre site in Dublin’s Ringsend, which is ultimately expected to deliver about 4,000 homes, the sources said.
They will account for about a quarter of a 2,750-unit seed portfolio that the real estate investment trust (reit) Oaktree plans to float. Property news publication Green Street News first reported on the planned initial public offering (IPO) this week, putting a £1.5 billion (€1.73 billion) valuation on the portfolio.
A spokeswoman for Oaktree declined to comment.
Oaktree owns an 83.3 per cent stake in Pembroke Beach, the joint venture behind the landmark development. A further 11.7 per cent is held by developer Johnny Ronan’s Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE), with the remaining 5 per cent owned by a company linked to Lioncor, co-developer of the site.
Lioncor is a joint venture between Oaktree and Dublin-based Alanis Capital and is leading the residential development element of the mixed scheme.
Sources say the initial Irish portfolio comprises a 212-unit building called Lime House, the site’s first residential building, which was completed in November, and two further blocks – Sand House and Batch House – that are set to contain 495 homes when they are finished later this year.
It is expected that RGRE and Lioncor will no longer have equity stakes in the three buildings by the time of the IPO.
Oaktree, which plans to retain 75 per cent ownership of the reit, has appointed investment banks Citigroup and Jefferies to manage the potential flotation, with a view to raising £500 million of fresh equity that will be used, along with debt, to build out the portfolio.
The banks started early marketing in recent days, with a view to a call being made in the coming weeks on whether to formally announce an intention to float.
Future stages of the Glass Bottle site project will offer natural acquisition opportunities for the trust. However, it is expected that the UK will be by far the most important market for future asset purchases. Initial UK assets will include Oaktree build-to-let apartment buildings in Bristol, Southampton, Walton-on-Thames and Farnham in England.
The portfolio assets eyed for inclusion in the reit – both in the UK and Ireland – are currently managed by a company called CompassRock International, which is led by chief executive David Woodward. He is being lined up as chief executive of the trust.
The driving forces behind the IPO project are senior Oaktree property executives Derek Rich and Charles Blackburn, according to sources.
While global equity markets have been volatile in recent months amid concerns over a potential artificial intelligence (AI) bubble and the Iran war, Green Street said that Oaktree is seeking to tap renewed investor interest in “hard, safe-haven assets”. Still, leading central banks may be forced to increase interest rates – usually a negative for property values – if the Gulf crisis leads to a fresh spike in inflation.
The Glass Bottle site, long a symbol of Celtic Tiger hubris, is expected to deliver about 4,000 homes, 25 per cent of which are earmarked for social and affordable housing, as well as 1 million sq ft (92,903sq m) of commercial space.
The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) had receivers appointed to two separate parts of the 37-acre site between 2011 and 2012 as the respective owners ran into financial trouble. Oaktree and RGRE acquired control of the land in late 2020.