Blanchardstown Shopping Centre
Opportunistic investor Strategic Value Partners has struck a deal to buy Blanchardstown Centre, Ireland’s largest shopping mall, from Goldman Sachs, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The US investment bank offered the center for sale last year, seeking about €650m, Bloomberg News reported at the time. The selling price is lower than that, the people 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 $18bn 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’ll miss payments.
Tenants have also been boosted by 14 consecutive quarters of rising consumer spending in Dublin, according to data compiled for the city council.
“Capital values for prime shopping centers in Europe have fallen more than 40pc since the peak and rental values in the best malls are now increasing, so if yields stabilize there is value recovery potential,” Sue Munden, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said. Goldman Sachs, based in New York, acquired the mall from Blackstone in late 2020, when it was valued at about €750m. The complex has 180 stores and restaurants, according to its website, and gets about 16 million visitors a year. Occupants include Zara, Hollister and JD Sports. (Bloomberg)