Glenveagh Properties, the new Irish homebuilder backed by US private equity firm Oaktree that is being prepared for flotation, is now poised to raise at least €450 million after its executives received positive feedback from potential investors, according to sources.
The company, which will combine development land acquired by Oaktree in recent years with the assets of Maynooth-based builder Bridgedale, is expected to float next month both on the Irish and London stock exchanges. It had previously targeted raising €350 million through the initial public offering (IPO).
It is understood that Justin Bickle, a managing director at Oaktree's European operation who has led the group's real-estate and loan acquisitions drive in Ireland following the financial crisis, will leave the Los Angeles-based firm to become Glenveagh's chief executive, the sources said.
Shares
The Irish Times had previously reported that Mr Bickle, Bridgedale chief executive Stephen Garvey and former National Asset Management Agency executive John Mulcahy, who is being lined up to chair Glenveagh, have been awarded 200 million founder shares in the company under an incentive scheme that would see the securities convert into ordinary stock, subject to certain performance targets being met. That equates to about 14.3 per cent of the company's current authorised share capital.
The revised targeted size of the IPO would top the €440 million raised by Cairn Homes when it floated in June 2015, becoming the first Irish homebuilder to turn to debut on the stock market in almost two decades. It comes at a time when Irish house price inflation is running at more than 12 per cent as the industry struggles to meet resurgent demand following the crisis.
Mr Mulcahy will take on the role of executive chairman at Glenveagh, while Mr Garvey will become chief operating officer of the company as it floats.
Market sources said in July that the new company will contain as much as €100 million of assets initially rolled in by Oaktree and Bridgedale as well as further land purchase agreed in recent months, conditional on the IPO being executed. Oaktree is expected to have a stake of below 20 per cent at the time of the flotation.
Bridgedale was an underbidder for 8.64 acres of prime development land sold by State broadcaster RTÉ in Donnybrook in Dublin 4 to Cairn Homes in July for €107.5 million, some 43 per cent above the guide price.
Options
It was reported earlier this month that Bridgedale has taken options to buy up to €80 million of development land, much of it based in Co Wicklow, from US private equity giant Cerberus, as well as a plot at Citywest in southwest Dublin which is currently under the control of Goldman Sachs.
Meanwhile, Glenveagh, which was registered with the Companies Registration Office last month as a limited company, has filed in the last week to turn itself into a public limited company.
Glenveagh has hired Dublin public relations agency Gordon MRM, which recently worked with the Department of Finance on the State's €3.4 billion IPO of a 28.8 per cent stake in AIB, to manage its media relations. A spokesman with the agency declined to comment on details surrounding Glenveagh's flotation.
A spokeswoman for Oaktree also declined to comment on the deal.
