JPMorgan to buy Dublin office for more than 1,000 workers

[LONDON] JPMorgan Chase & Co agreed to purchase an office building under construction in Dublin that can accommodate more than 1,000 workers as it expands in Ireland. The price wasn't disclosed.

The bank's Irish unit has bought the 200 Capital Dock building from real-estate firm Kennedy Wilson, Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd and Ireland's National Asset Management Agency, Kennedy Wilson said in a statement on Monday. The building, which measures about 130,000 square feet, is due to be completed in the third quarter of 2018.

"Given the momentum of our local businesses, this new building gives us room to grow and some flexibility within the European Union," Carin Bryans, senior country officer for JPMorgan in Ireland, said in the statement. "Dublin has the vibrant business and technology communities that suit a global firm like ours."

The US bank is expanding its custody business in Ireland and plans to hire a significant number of new workers as part of that growth. BlackRock Inc transferred custody services related to about US$1.3 trillion of client assets earlier this year from State Street Corp to the bank, which currently employs about 500 people in custody and fund services in the Irish capital.

Rising searches for Dublin office space, some of it from occupiers moving workers after the Brexit vote, has led to increased demand from buyers for office space under construction, CBRE Group Inc said in a report this month.

About 7 per cent of office space in the Irish capital was vacant at the end of the first quarter, compared with 7.7 per cent a year earlier, according to data compiled by the broker.

The money raised from the sale of 200 Capital Dock, together with a 125-million euro (S$191.67 million) loan advanced by Deutsche Bank AG, will fund the majority of the remaining cost of developing the wider Capital Dock project, which will also include apartments, according to Kennedy Wilson. Bloomberg News earlier reported the bank's plan to buy the building.

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