An affiliate of Hines, an international property investor, is in talks to buy a 73% stake in a Dublin shopping centre, five people with knowledge of the matter said.
The shareholding in Liffey Valley Shopping Centre is owned by Aviva Investors, manager of $437 billion of assets.
The 46,600 square-metre centre is the fourth-biggest in Dublin, according to broker DTZ. Spokesmen for Aviva and Hines declined to comment.
Hines, based in Houston, opened an Irish office in 2011 to target property and development sites being sold by banks and investors, the company said in a statement at the time.
Retail property values in Ireland are picking up a severe property price crisis. Store prices rose 0.6% in the third quarter from the previous three months, Jones Lang LaSalle said in a report today.
Aviva and Grosvenor Group., the London-based property company that owns 27% of Liffey Valley, had planned to sell the shopping center in 2011 for €350m.
Grosvenor, owned by the Duke of Westminster’s family trusts, and the asset manager took the building off the market after it failed to attract acceptable offers.
