InvestingOverseas: A new vehicle for Irish investors has opened up opportunities in the US. An Irish agent has teamed up with a US firm to source acquisitions. The yields from two such investments offer good returns, according to Hamilton Osbourne King, the Irish side of this vehicle.
Yields presented at a talk in Dublin on Monday stood at 7.2 per cent on investments of $15.25 million (€12 million) and 6.25 per cent on $17.5 million (€13.78 million). US firm Abbey Road Advisors was in Dublin to give an overview of the opportunities to Irish investors. The company works in the New England market, particularly Connecticut and Massachusetts, including Boston.
HOK Investors puts together the Irish investors, whose capital is pooled to purchase valuable properties identified by Abbey Road Advisors.
This allows investors access to US markets with modest levels of capital, says HOK Investors managing director, Michael Moriarty.
"For investors who participated, typically in amounts of $200,000 (€157,000) each, these opportunities provide access to an attractive market with the benefit of Abbey Road's proven local expertise in property selection and management."
Two recent purchases were described during the talk, including 455 Winding Brook Drive, an office property in Glastonbury near Hartford Connecticut.
A group of 20 private investors combined to acquire this property last month. The 8,443sq m (90,882sq ft) property is 100 per cent leased until 2012. The deal, inclusive of costs, was $15.25 million (€12 million) financed by $10 million (€7.87 million) of non-recourse debt and $5.25 million (€4.13 million) of investors' equity. The planned investment period is about seven years.
Speakers at the talk included Mark Keeney, one of Abbey Road Advisors' founders. He spent 16 years at MetLife, a US institution, where he managed a multi-billion property portfolio.
Robert Dowley, a partner in KPMG, was also in attendance to outline the taxation issues for Irish private investors acquiring property in the US.
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