Five BofI branches from Layden portfolio for sale at €9.34m

Five Bank of Ireland retail branches in Leinster and Connaught go for sale from today through agents Murphy Mulhall at an overall guide price of €9.34 million.

All have leases that run for more than 16 years and have upwards-only rent review clauses with no break options. The buildings are to be sold individually or as a single lot.

The five bank buildings were among 29 branches and a call centre in Kilkenny bought by the Layden Group at the height of the boom in 2007 for €94 million.

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BoI in Ardee, Co Louth, located at the junction of Castle Street and O’Carroll Street, is rented at €113,519 and is expected to fetch around €1.8 million

The sale and leaseback deal initially showed a yield of 3.9 per cent.

The highest value sale now to get under way involves the Bank of Ireland branch in Ballina, Co Mayo, which occupies a large site on Pearse Street and is producing a rental income of €216,081 per annum.

The guide price will be €3.5 million.

In Dublin, the bank building on Mobhi Road in Glasnevin is producing an annual rent of €103,338.

The investment is priced at €1.85 million.

The next landmark bank building in Ardee, Co Louth, located at the junction of Castle Street and O'Carroll Street, is rented at €113,519 and is expected to fetch around €1.8 million.

Athy branch

Murphy Mulhall is quoting €1,250,000 for a three-storey semi-detached bank building in Athy, Co Kildare, which is producing an annual rent of €79,471.

The lowest-priced bank branch for sale, at €940,000, is in Edenderry, Co Offaly, and is producing an annual rent of €61,372.

The five planned sales come after the Layden group reported the disposal of the Bank of Ireland in Rathmines, Dublin 6, for €1.74 million, equating to a net yield of 5.7 per cent.

The bank premises in Cavan, sold for €2.01 million, will show a return of 6.2 per cent while the Bank of Ireland in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, will give the new owner a return of 5.92 per cent on the €1.8 million paid for the branch.

Acquisitions

Since buying the 29 bank buildings in 2007 the Layden Group has negotiated extensions on most of the leases to 2032. Returns filed in Dublin show that the group has come through the property crash relatively unscathed with annual trading profits between 2008 and 2014 averaging almost €1 million per annum.

The group spent €22.5 million on acquiring a number of key properties after the crash including the 3 building at 50 Grafton Street which it bought for €4.5 million and Boole House, the Ericsson-owned office block in Clonskeagh which was acquired for €9.25 million.

In recent months, Layden was also the top bidder for the Smurfit Kappa industrial premises at Ballymount Industrial Estate.

“The group continues to rebalance its portfolio and plans to make further acquisitions and disposals in the Irish property market over the next twelve months,” a company spokesman said.