Lone Star, a Texas-based private-equity firm, is making progress towards finalising the sale of a majority share in its Irish housing development division, Quintain Ireland, to TPG, another private-equity company originating from Texas. The concurred arrangement incorporates the Quintain Ireland establishment and its property assets located in Adamstown, Clonburris, and Portmarnock in Dublin which collectively hold the potential for the construction of 4,500 houses. This has been verified by insider information, supplementing a report by the global property newsletter, Green Street News.
Quintain Ireland’s engagement with Cherrywood, located in the southern part of Dublin, will not be included in the deal. This land, which is projected to accommodate 3,000 residences, will continue to be developed by Quintain Ireland on behalf of Lone Star.
The expected price set for TPG to acquire the Quintain Ireland platform and its lands is over €200 million. Representatives from Lone Star and Quintain Ireland have refrained from passing comment on the matter.
Quintain Ireland commenced operations under the leadership of property sector professionals Eddie Byrne and Michael Hynes. However, Byrne eventually parted ways with the company and assumed the role of CEO at Ires Reit, a Dublin-based apartment owner.
After the property downturn, Lone Star’s funds were among the pioneer foreign investors to acquire assets in Ireland’s property market, accumulating vast tracts of land in Dublin. In 2018, the US private equity colossus contemplated merging several Dublin development ventures into a newly formed publicly traded company. Yet, volatile conditions in the equity market led to a delay of an initial public offering (IPO) that was scheduled for November.
The decision to abandon the IPO completely surfaced a year later and instead, Lone Star chose to fold its extensive residential land portfolio in Ireland into Quintain, a new Irish subsidiary of its UK developmental operations.
Lone Star sought the services of Rothschild and Savills earlier this year, to carry out a tactical review of Quintain Ireland, which ranks third in terms of house development in the Republic, superseded by Cairn Homes and Glenveagh Properties.
There were rumours for some time that TPG, cofounded by David Bonderman, Ryanair’s former chairman, had been showing interest in Quintain Ireland and now, the details of the likely deal have become apparent.
TPG is reportedly willing to purchase additional properties and extend the reach of the Quintain Ireland platform after renaming the business following the completion of an impending deal, pending an antitrust clearance.
In terms of recent trading updates, Cairn Homes announced on Wednesday that it recorded sales of 894 units, amassing €365 million in revenue in the first half of 2024. This marks a 66 per cent annual increase in revenue. The closed and forward order book surged to approximately 3,100 new homes, with a net sales value of nearly €1.2 billion.
Furthermore, Glenveagh Properties reported on Thursday that it has maintained its construction goals for this year, notwithstanding a decrease in earnings. The company managed to sell 800 out of its 2,700 full-year goal for 2024.
Despite this, there was a decrease in revenue for the six months ending June, falling to €150 million, a decrease from the €172 million recorded for the same period the previous year.