LNC buys German complex

A PROPERTY company backed by businessman Bill McCabe has snapped up a leisure complex in Germany for about €60 million.

Mr McCabe, the founder of education software company Smartforce, is the main shareholder in LNC Property Group. The company, which has property assets of more than €500m, plans to redevelop Space Park Complex near Bremen.

The complex has been bought out of administration by LNC.

Mr McCabe, LNC’s chairman, plans to transform and then re-launch the 26-hectare property.

The development, which is on the site of a former shipyard, has a rental area of around 100,000sq m. The site includes retail outlets, a 10-screen cinema with IMAX theatre, a 162-bed hotel and indoor leisure complex. LNC said the site has the potential for further extensive development.

“Space Park represents a unique opportunity for LNC Property Group to utilise its asset management and development expertise to maximise the very considerable potential this asset represents,” Mr McCabe said in a statement.

The company said it will be working with the local community to build a “modern” and “vibrant” retail and leisure centre. It did not say how much it intends to spend on developing the project.

LNC Property Group owns and manages a diversified property portfolio valued at over €500m with investments in Ireland, the Britain, mainland Europe and South Africa. The company owns prime land in central London worth about €100m.

Mr McCabe is one of the country’s richest businessmen, having made his fortune from Smartforce in the late 1990s. Since then he has been involved in a number of ventures, including bio-fuel company Bedminster International.

According to some estimates, his fortune is in excess of €200m.