O’Callaghan Properties’ Project Lee loans sold to Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank is poised to take over an estimated €300m in performing property portfolio loans associated with a number of O’Callaghan Properties (OCP) assets in Cork.
The news the bank is the preferred bidder for the Nama sale of the Project Lee portfolio emerged last night. Nama declined to comment but a spokesperson for OCP confirmed the news.
The loans in Project Lee include: A significant portion of the Opera Lane development in the city centre, including retail units and overhead apartments; offices at Half Moon St, largely occupied by Apple, which has its European headquarters on the northside of the city; apartments at Lancaster Gate, Western Rd; and the retail park at Mahon, next to the OCP-developed Mahon Point Shopping Centre.
The portfolio covers more than 150 apartments, all fully let since the developments at Opera Lane and Lancaster Quay were completed.
The loans also cover sites at Lancaster Quay, earmarked for further apartments, and a development site by Mahon Point.
The Cork-based firm said it was delighted to welcome Deutsche Bank as owners of the Project Lee portfolio. “We are concentrating on our core development portfolio of offices and residential in Cork, Dublin, and London at the moment and this new arrangement with Deutsche Bank will help us create further opportunities from the Project Lee portfolio over the next two to three years,” it said.
It was reported in July the assets in the portfolio generate a €12m income stream. Moves to sell OCP-related loans were initiated by Nama in 2015, but the process was held up by legal complications and by the death, in January 2017, of company founder Owen O’Callaghan.
