Hibernia Reit property investment secures €400m credit facility for Dublin market

Property investment company Hibernia Reit has secured a new €400m credit facility that it will look to deploy in the Dublin market as it continues to exploit the value on offer.

Hibernia announced the new revolving credit facility with a syndicate of three banks, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank and Barcalys Bank, as it reported a strong set of interim results.

The company reported profit before tax of €73.7m including a significant boost as a result of property revaluations of more than €63m.

Profit before tax for the same period last year was less than half the €73.7m figure at just under €32m.

Much of the revaluation uplift came as a result of the group’s development and refurbishment projects which will continue into 2016 when value-add activities on properties such as Cumberland House and One Docklands Central are completed.

Hibernia chief executive Kevin Nowlan said there is still value in the capital, with very strong demand for office space.

The lack of quality office space is playing into Hibernia’s hands and Mr Nowlan expects rents to continue to tick upwards in the coming months.

He added that the company’s strategy was to de-risk its portfolio by attracting long-term tenants.

Two major tenants were secured in the six months to the end of September with Twitter pre-letting almost 7,900 sq m of Cumberland House with an annual rent of €4.6m.

More than 2,550 sq m of office space at One Dockland Central in the IFSC was also pre-let to US technology company HubSpot during the period which will deliver an annual rent of €1.3m.

Hibernia owns 21 properties in Dublin valued at €739m and will continue to focus on the Dublin market in the coming 18 months.

The company declared an interim dividend of 0.7c per share, up from 0.3c per share in September of last year.