Property investor to buy Liffey Valley stake

An affiliate of Hines, an international property investor, is in talks to buy a 73 per cent stake in Dublin's Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, according to sources. The shareholding in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre is owned by Aviva Investors, which manages $437 billion of assets. The 46,600sq m shopping centre is the fourth-biggest in Dublin

Spokesmen for Aviva and Hines declined to comment.

Hines, based in Houston, opened an Irish office in 2011 to target property and development sites being sold by banks and investors, the company said in a statement at the time. The firm is one of many international investors targeting Irish commercial property.

Aviva and Grosvenor Group Ltd, the London-based property company that owns 27 per cent of Liffey Valley, had planned to sell the shopping centre in 2011 for €350 million, Property Week reported at the time. Grosvenor, owned by the Duke of Westminster's family trusts, and the asset manager took the building off the market after it failed to attract acceptable offers, the magazine said.

The Jones Lang LaSalle Irish Property Index yesterday showed overall capital values in the Republic grew 1.1 per cent in the three months ended September 30th, the second consecutive quarter of growth.

There was growth across all sectors, led by offices, up 1.7 per cent, followed by retail at 0.6 per cent. However, year-on-year values continued to fall and the index showed a 0.9 per cent fall over the last 12 months.

Hannah Dwyer, head of research at the firm, said the growth in the capital values index in the portfolio reflected the increase in the value of deals in the investment market over the last three months.

Separately, new accounts for Jones Lang LaSalle have shown pretax profits at the agent increased by 18 per cent to €1.42 million last year. – (Bloomberg)