Goldman agrees to sell Ireland’s largest shopping mall to SVP
OPPORTUNISTIC credit firm Strategic Value Partners (SVP) struck a deal to buy Blanchardstown Centre, Ireland’s largest shopping mall, from Goldman Sachs, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
The US investment bank offered the centre for sale last year, seeking about 650 million euros (S$942 million), Bloomberg News reported at the time. The selling price is lower than that, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the transaction has yet to be completed.
A Goldman Sachs representative declined to comment. SVP, founded by Victor Khosla, also declined to comment. The firm has more than US$18 billion of assets under management.
After a decade of being roiled by online shopping, malls are starting to become attractive to investors again because declines in rents in recent years have made space more affordable for retailers, meaning there’s less chance they will miss payments. Tenants have also been boosted by 14 consecutive quarters of rising consumer spending in Dublin, according to data compiled for the city’s local governments.
“Capital values for prime shopping centres in Europe have fallen more than 40 per cent since the peak and rental values in the best malls are now increasing, so if yields stabilise there is value recovery potential,” Sue Munden, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said of the region’s retail properties in general.
Goldman Sachs, based in New York, acquired the mall from Blackstone in late 2020 when it was valued at about 750 million euros. The complex has 180 stores and restaurants and gets about 16 million visitors a year. Occupants include Zara, Hollister and JD Sports.
The Irish Times reported last month that SVP had made an offer to buy the property. BLOOMBERG
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