Castlehaven Finance and Relm Finance back leading Irish developer’s exit from NAMA 

The Cosgrave Property Group have refinanced NAMA with funding from alternative lenders 

While this industry news story featured in the Sunday Independent and The Sunday Times on November 1st, the article below was originally published in The Irish Times October 30th, 2020: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/cosgrave-property-group-secures-exit-from-nama-1.4396624

Castlehaven Finance and Relm Finance have agreed to advance loan facilities to the Cosgrave Property Group to fund the developer’s exit from NAMA. The deal refinances the portfolio of commercial real estate, sites and development assets from existing NAMA facilities and will provide vital housing for the undersupplied Irish market.

The Cosgrave Property Group was founded in 1979 by brothers Joe, Peter, and Michael Cosgrave. Sadly Peter passed away in 2019, having worked along with his brothers for 40 years during which time they built over 10,000 homes and 2 million square feet of commercial space. They were one of the few Irish developers to keep building new homes right through the downturn, reacting quickly to changed market conditions to provide 719 houses and 1,885 apartments in the decade following the crash, as well as significant commercial and amenity space.

Recent overall national winner of the prestigious 2020 Excellence in Placemaking Awards sponsored by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and CBRE, Cosgrave Property Group have established a very strong reputation for the quality of their residential and commercial developments. The Group’s strengths lie in the quality of their team, the selection of well-located sites, their expertise in providing a product that meets market demand, and their ability to optimise the potential from each site.

Cosgrave Property Group have made a huge impact in both the sale and rental residential markets in Ireland in recent years. They were the first company to build and pre-sell apartment blocks to pension funds and institutional investors. They did so in a twin-tracked strategy by building and selling homes at the same time to individual homebuyers for owner occupation.  Their sale in July of 368 apartments at c.€200 million was not only the biggest investment transaction of the year to date covering all categories of investment, it was also the largest residential investment sale ever in the state in one location.  The new debt facilities will allow the Group to progress a number of major residential schemes comprising a substantial number of houses and apartments.

Deloitte acted as advisor to the Cosgrave Property Group on this landmark transaction, with Sheehan & Company, McCann FitzGerald and DWF acting as legal advisors.

A spokesperson for the Group expressed gratitude for NAMA’s funding of their developments in recent years and welcomed new funders Castlehaven and Relm. They said that Cosgraves and their team are “determined to continue to push out the boundaries in terms of design and construction excellence and the provision of the highest quality buildings and amenities.”

Providing funding for the commercial real estate element of the transaction, Paul Dowling, CEO of Relm, said this was an unparalleled opportunity to partner with a best in class asset manager on a top quality property portfolio.

Commenting on the deal, Castlehaven partner Will Aylmer said “We are delighted to be working with the Cosgrave Property Group on this milestone deal.  Castlehaven has always sought to be part of the solution for Ireland’s housing crisis and we are excited to work with Cosgraves to deliver much-needed quality housing in key locations around Dublin.”

Castlehaven and Relm are both funded by global investment firm Avenue Capital Group.