Glenveagh shares surge at debut

Shares in Glenveagh Properties rose almost 14% above its offer price on its debut on the Irish Stock Exchange as investors hailed the prospects for an Irish house builder focused on building houses.

It joins Cairn Homes as only the second stockmarket listed home builder in Dublin. The surge in the shares will value Glenveagh on par with Cairn Homes, according to a market source. Cairn shares gained 2.7%. The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, as well as Fidelity, JP Morgan and Lazard Asset Management hold significant stakes.

“The level of international support for this IPO is a huge endorsement not just for Glenveagh but for the broader Irish economy.

“International investors are very tuned in to the Irish story and they have demonstrated a huge appetite to invest in ambitious, well-structured companies who can respond to the current housing shortage,” said Glenveagh chairman John Mulcahy.

Glenveagh brings together lands in the Dublin area owned by US fund Oaktree Capital with builder Bridgedale, which was founded by Stephen Garvey almost 15 years ago. The firm said it will use the proceeds from the sale to buy Bridgedale for €2.6m in shares and to purchase “conditionally acquired sites”.

Investec Ireland said: “Glenveagh is targeting annual output of 2,000 units by 2023. While this is significantly ahead of Cairn’s guided steady-state output of 1,200 units per annum, we believe that Cairn has the operational flexibility and land to increase its output beyond this figure if it so chooses.”