Developer Johnny Ronan’s property company has purchased four of its former assets that it surrendered to receivership more than a year ago and brought them back under its control.
Ronan Group Real Estate (RGRE) consented in November 2023 to AIB and Bank of Ireland’s appointment of receivers Grant Thornton with a view to recovering €130 million in loans secured against the assets.
The country’s two pillar banks acquired the loans for their part from M&G Investments in 2022 at a time when the overall portfolio carried a value of some €300 million.
The portfolio of 11 properties includes Bewley’s Cafe on Grafton Street in Dublin, as well as Connaught House on Burlington Road, AIB Investment House on Percy Place in Dublin 4, Kingram House in Dublin 2, and Kilmore House in Spencer Dock.
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The entire portfolio was offered to the market by joint agents JLL and Cushman & Wakefield at an overall guide price of €150 million last year.
Ronan Group Real Estate said on Friday it had taken back what it called “the jewels in the crown” of the portfolio, namely: 70 Grafton Street, home to PTSB and City Break Apartments, and 78-79 Grafton Street, the location of Bewley’s Café, in Dublin 2.
The company has also bought back its stake in Percy Exchange on Percy Place in Dublin 4 and St James House on Adelaide Road in Dublin 2.
The company said it would not disclose the financial details of the deal. However, the property at 70 Grafton Street had been expected by market sources to command a price of about €11.2 million.
The move to take back control of the properties comes days after RGRE secured permission from Dublin City Council for the construction of the capital’s tallest residential building at its Waterfront South Central scheme in the north docklands.
Rising to 274ft, the landmark 25-storey apartment block will, alongside two other blocks, house 550 homes and is to form the centrepiece of the mixed-use development.
It will sit alongside the new nine-storey European headquarter offices RGRE is building for global banking giant Citi at North Wall Quay.
RGRE chief executive Rory Williams said Friday was “another positive day” for the company, and that it would now “forge ahead” with the delivery of the large-scale office and residential development alongside the Citi building.
“We have an excellent portfolio of assets in development and with development potential,” he said. “We can now focus our energy on that outstanding portfolio and get on with doing what we do best.”
Mr Williams thanked CapitalFlow, the Irish business lender, for its provision of debt in funding the buy-back, and Louis Burke, Michael Neary and colleagues at Philip Lee, the law firm which advised CapitalFlow.
Eversheds Sutherland provided property, banking and corporate law advice on the deal.
Mr Ronan has been one of the great survivors of the Irish property sector. He was a major player in Ireland’s commercial property market before the 2008 crash and despite having his loans put into Nama, he re-established himself as a key industry figure.
The 70-year-old businessman is central to some of the most high-profile property development schemes in the State.
