Yew Grove exchanges contracts on Dublin office buildings

Yew Grove REIT has exchanged contracts to acquire the One and Three Gateway office buildings, which are situated on the East Wall Road in Dublin 3, for an agreed price of €29m, it announced on Monday.

The AIM-traded company said the two office buildings, which were included as part of the property pipeline in its admission document, comprised 94,793 square feet and were let to the Electricity Supply Board of Ireland, Whirlpool Corporation, and Colt Technology Services, at 97% occupancy.

It said the purchase price of €29m reflected a net initial yield of 6.5%, and a gross reversionary yield exceeding 8.5%.

The buildings together had a weighted average unexpired lease term of 2.8 years to break and four years to expiry.

Yew Grove said the buildings were located within walking distance of Dublin's International Financial Services Centre, and just south of the Port Tunnel and East Point business Park.

"I'm very pleased to announce our first acquisition since our IPO,” said chief executive Jonathan Laredo.

“The key attractions of these buildings were the quality of their location, build and tenants.”

Laredo said East Wall Road was becoming viewed as a part of the North Docks, and was benefiting from increasing tenant interest due to its rent levels and transport links.

“The relatively short unexpired lease term and minor vacancy allows the company to actively manage the buildings which we hope will grow the income and capital value of the properties over the next few years.”