FOUR BIDS RECEIVED FOR €287m PROJECT BOYNE - Four bids have been received for a portfolio of serviced business centres, development land and retail parks with a face value of €287 million that are associated with Meath-based property investor Willie Smyth.
The portfolio called Project Boyne is expected to sell for over €80 million and includes the Fitzwilliam Business Centre group of serviced office facilities in Dublin, Navan, Drogheda and Prague. The Fitzwilliam business centres have dozens of domestic and international clients, writes the Irish Times. Its centre on Sir John Rogerson Quay in Dublin's so-called Silicon Docks area was in the press when it emerged that it housed the offices of MindGeek, which is behind some of the world's biggest pornography websites. Between them MindGeek's various sites attract 1.7 billion views per month. The newspaper understands that the four bidders are in the running for the Project Boyne portfolio are Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Oaktree Capital Management and Davidson Kempner Capital Management. All four have been active in the Irish market in recent years. Mr Smyth and his associated companies have a portfolio of about 25 assets with debts to Nama. The assets have a rent roll in the tens of millions but investors are also factoring in the development potential of the portfolio.
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FORMER MERRION CAPITAL DIRECTOR SENTENCED IN ICELANDIC BANKER TRIAL - A former director of Irish stockbrokering firm Merrion Capital has been jailed for his part in the Icelandic banking collapse, says the Irish Independent. The former chief executive of Iceland's Landsbanki, Sigurjon Arnason, was a director of Merrion Capital from 2005 to 2008 after his bank bought an initial 50% stake in the Irish broker as part of Landsbanki's doomed, international expansion. Yesterday, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison by the District Court in Reykjavík. The jail term was handed down after the former banker was found guilty of market manipulation between November 1, 2007 and October 3, 2008. Mr Arnason stood down as a director of the Irish brokerage on October 9, 2008, according to Companies Office records. Merrion was subsequently bought back by its management in a €30m deal. Since then the former owners have had no involvement with the Irish firm. The Reykjavik-based bank's purchase of Merrion was part of an aggressive spending spree during which it also acquired UK brokers Teather & Greenwood and Bridgewell, and Paris-based Kepler.
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LUAS FIRM'S PROFITS DIP 6% - A record year for the Luas in 2013 was not enough to prevent pre-tax profits at its French-owned operator last year declining by 6% to €1.31m. Newly-filed accounts with the Companies Office show that Transdev Dublin Light Rail Ltd sustained the dip in profits in spite of record passenger numbers topping 30 million people. Last year marked the sixth successive year of rising passenger numbers on the Luas, when user numbers increased by 500,000, writes the Irish Examiner. The rise contributed to revenues increasing by 6% to €56.7m in the 12 months to the end of December last. In September of this year, Transdev signed a five-year, €150m, contract to continue to operate the Luas. The contract incentivises the operator to grow passenger numbers and reduce costs in order to provide best value for money for customers. According to the directors' report in Transdev's latest accounts: "While profitability is likely to be lower than heretofore under the terms of the new contract, it is the intention of the directors to continue to develop the current activities of the company". The directors state that the increase in revenue is due to increased activity, in particular in the area of tram overhauls.
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PUB GROUPS ROCKED BY MP'S VOTE TO CALL TIME ON LANDLORDS' BEER TIES - UK pub companies face a decline in investor confidence and months of uncertainty after a shock decision by MPs to unwind the centuries-old beer tie system battered their share prices. Tuesday's parliamentary vote, which marked a defeat for the government, frees tenants from their legal obligation to buy beer and other drinks from the companies they rent from. They would now only need to pay the companies a market rent. The change represents a serious threat to tenanted pub groups, in particular Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns which between them own 9,500 pubs. They each suffered 17% share price falls, reflecting the size and scale of the potential long term damage to an industry that has been hit hard by the smoking ban and fall in alcohol consumption. The number of pubs in the UK has fallen from nearly 60,000 12 years ago to 48,000 today. Government officials told the Financial Times on Wednesday that ministers were very unlikely to try to overturn the amendment. Jubilant publicans said the vote, backed by the Campaign for Real Ale and the Federation of Small Businesses, was long overdue and would benefit consumers.
