Deka Immobilien set to buy Whitewater Shopping Centre

German-based Deka Immobilien is on track to buy the highly profitable Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge, Co Kildare, after outbidding six other European and American investment funds.

Deka is believed to have offered more than €170 million for the centre which is 50 per cent owned by property developer Sean Mulryan and the balance by the estate of the late Liam Maye who was also involved in Dundrum Town Centre.

Joint selling agents Savills and London-based Coady Supple had been guiding in excess of €150 million for the centre which will give Deka an initial return on its investment of about 6.5 per cent.

Deka’s decision to pitch for the Newbridge centre marks a renewed interest by European funds in Ireland’s distressed retail assets which have been attracting mainly US offers over the past year.

Grafton Street

Deka already owns the Tommy Hilfiger store on Dublin’s Grafton Street which it bought in 2009 for €23 million. It previously acquired Mahon Point shopping centre in Cork for €250 million.

Whitewater opened for business in 2006 and has 29,798sq m (320,640sq ft) of retail space to accommodate four anchor tenants, 63 retail units and 11 food court units with seating for 650 people. There is also a six-screen cinema, 1,700 landlord-controlled car parking spaces and 84 apartments.

Whitewater is generating a net operating income of €11.7 million of which 87 per cent comes from the shopping centre tenants and the remainder from the car park and residential units.

The centre has a strong tenant line-up led by a mixture of European and UK high street fashion houses as well as leading Irish brands. It is anchored by Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Zara and H&M, while the other notable traders include Boots, New Look, River Island and Easons.

The top 10 tenants account for 52 per cent of the rental income. Debenhams pays a rent of €1,575,000; Marks & Spencer €630,000, H&M, €575,000; Boots, €500,000; New Look, €425,000; Easons, €380,000; Zara, €330,766.