Glenveagh announces Dublin site sale and €75m share buyback

Property group completes sale of East Road site in Dublin’s docklands for €63m

Property group Glenveagh has announced the completion of the sale of its East Road site in Dublin’s docklands and the initiation of a €75 million share buyback scheme. The Dublin-listed firm said the East Road site was sold for a cash consideration of approximately €63 million.

Glenveagh has now generated €210 million from the Dublin docklands via three separate transactions: site sales at both Castleforbes and East Road, and the forward funding of the Premier Inn hotel. The group’s final asset in the area is a 12,500sq m office development, which it said it would look to sell closer to “practical completion” in 2024.

“Our continued strategy of accelerating the monetisation of our urban portfolio provides strong visibility on reaching our target of €500 million land value by year-end, while also allowing the business to improve capital efficiency through a further share buyback programme commencing today,” it said, while noting the transactions had significantly reduced the concentration risk in the group’s landbank.

Following the East Road sale and as noted in the group’s recent annual general meeting, Glenveagh has identified €75 million as excess capital which it is now proposing to return to shareholders in the form of a share buyback scheme, which commences on Wednesday with the aid of Davy Stockbrokers.

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This is the group’s third share buyback and follows the successful completion of two buyback programmes for a combined €185 million and brings the total capital returns announced since the 2021 AGM to approximately €260 million.

“Glenveagh has made significant progress in improving balance sheet efficiency in the last two years, which has driven a material improvement in cash-flow generation,” Davy said.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times