HWBC ADVISE GERMAN FUND IN GRAFTON STREET ACQUISITION

GLL Real Estate Partners, advised by HWBC, have purchased the AIB sale & leaseback investment comprising the banks flagship premises at 100/101 Grafton Street, Ireland’s most fashionable retail address.

The building which extends to 1,625sq.m (17,500 sq ft) was purchased for close to €28 million, reflecting a net yield of 6% and which makes it the largest investment transaction so far this year. It occupies a prime location on Grafton Street close to the Brown Thomas Department Store and opposite the recently opened Tommy Hilfiger store.

GLL are a German based institutional fund manager with assets of over €3 billion spread across Western Europe, Central Eastern Europe and the US. The AIB purchase represents their first transaction in the Irish market.

Jonathan Hillyer commented, ‘The acquisition follows a lot of hard work by the Investment team in the last 12 months trying to attract foreign investors to Ireland to take advantage of good relative value, compared to other European investment markets. We continue to seek Institutional core investments for GLL who now have a platform in Ireland to enable them to move quickly and whose investors are comfortable with nation’s prospects going forward’.