Capreit, the founding shareholder of Ires Reit, is persisting with its gradual sale of shares within the market, while an activist investor scrutinises the company’s board for possible sale or restructuring decisions. Capreit orchestrated Ires’s formation, overseen its 2014 IPO and accrued nearly €50 million in fees prior to its removal as asset and property manager two years back when these operations were internalised.
Capreit has consistently resisted Margaret Sweeney, the soon to retire CEO of Ires, voting against her retention at previous shareholder meetings and endorsing Vision Capital in its unsuccessful attempt last month to transform the board and secure a mandate for a sales or disposal scheme.
Capreit’s stake in Ires had dwindled to 16.3 per cent as of Thursday, down from 18.7 per cent one month earlier.
Yet, an interesting development is the entrance of Starwood Capital, a US-based property expert. Having declared a preliminary 1.52 per cent stake in Ires last week, it has since upped its interest to 1.9 per cent.
Starwood supports Urbeo, a Dublin-based rent-to-build venture behind 2,000 apartments. Rumours circulate that Starwood may be aligning itself to acquire part of Ires’s portfolio or make a direct offer.
However, Starwood may just be seeking a quick profit. It had acquired a near 3 per cent stake in Hibernia Reit before the office group announced in March 2022 that it was being taken over. Following the stock surge to meet the bid price, Starwood offloaded its shares within days of the announcement.
With the forthcoming departure of Sweeney, the Ires board is under pressure from several shareholders (40 per cent voted with Vision on crucial resolutions) to initiate an early liquidity event.
However, the marketplace remains wary, as indicated by Ires’s share price of 99.6c, which has increased by less than 2 cents since Starwood’s initial stake declaration.
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