Hammerson secures €350m loan to reposition Dundrum
Hammerson and Pimco Prime Real Estate have completed the refinancing of a secured loan on Dundrum Town Centre in Ireland. The two partners arranged a €350 million non-recourse term loan of up to seven years with lenders Rothesay, BNP Paribas and Deka.
To secure best pricing and flexibility, Hammerson and its JV partner Allianz funded a total €220 million at equal share, from existing cash in the JV and new equity, which together with the new facility, will be used to refinance the existing €570 million facility maturing in September 2024.
The new term-loan is repayable on or before maturity in September 2031 at an all-in interest cost expected to be c.5.5%. Hammerson’s reported LTV at 30 June will be unchanged and average maturity extends from 2.2 to 2.9 years.
Hammerson has recently invested to re-anchor and reposition Dundrum shopping centre, located in the affluent and densely populated southern Dublin catchment area, introducing some high-profile international brands, market-first occupiers and new uses including leisure, entertainment and workspace, driving footfall up by 3.3% and sales up 1.5% year-on-year.
Dundrum today has over 150 brands including restaurants, a 12-screen cinema and 3,400 car park spaces. The 125,000 sq m destination is 95% occupied and generates total passing rent of around €62 million per annum.
Last month Dundrum signed boutique bowling brand, Lane7, which will open a new large entertainment space with bowling, curling, ping pong, pool and dedicated karaoke booths. Lane7 is one of the top performing sites at Hammerson’s Bullring & Grand Central centre in Birmingham.
Earlier this year Hammerson announced that JD Sports would open one of its largest stores in Ireland and beauty retailer Space NK would open its second store in the country at Dundrum Town Centre.
“We continue to reposition our assets through our new social concepts, which not only diversifies our occupier mix but also drives footfall and customer engagement,” said Connor Owens, managing director asset management Ireland, Hammerson.
Dundrum was recently rated A++ by Green Street, the international independent real estate analyst, putting it amongst a handful of super-prime European assets that carry this rating and the only asset in Ireland to do so.
Hammerson is committed to ESG and achieving Net Zero by 2030, and among various initiatives it has provided 100 bicycle storage units to encourage customers to travel more sustainably and has diverted a local culvert to a mill pond to save potable water at Dundrum.
