AIB sells headquarters for €160m

AIB will bank a profit of €160 million on the sale of its headquarters in south Dublin that it had valued at just €1.2m.

Sat, 30 Jul, 2005 - 01:00

Ian Guider

The bank yesterday sold the 2.3-acre site in Ballsbridge to a group of millionaire businessmen and investors known as the Serpentine Consortium. The bank had valued the land on its books at just €1.2m, less than the cost of a family home in the area.

There were nine bids for the site, which is opposite the RDS arena, but the winning offer came from a consortium of investors put together from the client lists of AIB’s own private banking and stockbroking arms.

AIB would not disclose the name of the individuals last night, though several of the country’s top businesspeople are believed to be part of the deal. It is not known if the new owners have benefited from any tax breaks.

The sale comes just a day after property developer Seán Dunne bought a nearby five-acre piece of land from hotel group Jurys Doyle for €260m, in what was the country’s biggest property deal. However, the price per acre paid to AIB for the land is actually higher.

AIB will continue to occupy the site under a lease at the cost of €16.1m a year.

The existing AIB facilities will be renovated and extended at a cost of more than €200m. Construction work by builders John Sisk and Son will begin soon.

Land in Ballsbridge is changing hands for record prices. A Tudor house on 1.8 acres on Shrewsbury Road was sold this month for €45m, despite requiring a complete renovation.

AIB shareholders, though, will not get anything from the deal. The €160 million will be received by the bank over three years and ploughed back into the business.

Next Tuesday, the bank is set to report that profits in the first six months of this year have reached a record level.

According to market analysts, profits at the bank have surged by nearly 20% since last year to almost €850 million, or around €5 million a day.

Shares in the bank closed down almost 1% yesterday at 17.75, despite the announcement of the €160m windfall.