Property investor Lugus Capital and its investment partner Broadhaven Credit Partners have emerged as the purchaser of a portfolio of 142 residential properties which was acquired last year from an international investment fund for around €29.9 million.
Knight Issuer, an investment vehicle with links to Lugus and Broadhaven, acquired the portfolio which is spread across Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Galway.
It paid €6.9 million for 34 apartments at Swiftwood in Saggart, west Dublin, and €3.46 million for 16 apartments at Garrison Mews in Dublin 18. In Clontarf, north Dublin, it paid €5.3 million for 19 apartments at the Clontarf Bay development, and it paid €2.52 million for 10 units at Wilford Court in Bray.
While most residential portfolio sales tend to comprise a large number of units in one or more developments, the granular and dispersed nature of this particular portfolio is unusual. At least one quarter of the portfolio comprised just one unit, or a very small number of units, in a given area or development.
For example, the portfolio included one unit in Bettystown, Co Meath, which is believed to be situated about 25km from the nearest property in the portfolio, being an apartment in Skerries, north Dublin.
In Kildare, there was one apartment in Newbridge and one apartment in Sallins, situated about 14km apart.
While the nature of the portfolio is unusual, Lugus and Broadhaven may already have a profitable exit strategy in mind. Lugus has proven itself to be an astute value-add investor in recent years, making multimillion euro profits from every deal it has been involved in.
Last year it sold the Belgrave Collection, a portfolio of 30 period properties comprising 265 units, to Dutch investor Orange Capital Partners for a reported €70 million.
Pre ‘63 properties became unattractive to investors following the ban on bedsit units in 2013, but Lugus identified the potential of such properties as a gateway to Dublin’s lucrative and under-served rental market, acquiring and refurbishing them to modern standards and renting them to generate an annual rent roll of €4.2 million.
Office block
Also last year, Lugus sold its South Point office block on Harmony Row, Dublin 2. The office block was seeking just €4.25 million in 2015 when they acquired it. The investor extended and refurbished the block, then rented it to Iconic Offices and sold it for a reported €12.7 million.
According to the company's website, in 2013 it acquired the Barrington Tower site in Dublin 18 as part of a consortium. Having sold for €34 million in 2005, the site changed hands for just €8 million in 2013, before being flipped to listed house-builder Cairn Homes a year and a half later with an asking price of €18 million.
Lugus also recently closed the sale of the Leeside apartment complex in Cork for €20 million to Clúid Housing Association and Cork City Council.
The property price register suggests the company may have paid as little as €8.45 million for the apartment block in October 2017.
