Who is James Berwind, the US businessman with a Kinsale property portfolio worth €16m?
Valley House in Sandycove, Kinsale, which has been bought for €4.99m. Picture: Dan Linehan
This week, the reported how an American philanthropist, who fell in love with the town of Kinsale after sailing into its harbour on his superyacht, is believed to have purchased his third property in the town in the last 18 months.
James Berwind is thought to be the buyer of Valley House, a dormer bungalow overlooking a harbour island in Kinsale's Sandycove. The house was recently the subject of off-market purchase for €4.99m.
Mr Berwind, 60, is a fifth-generation member of the Berwind family, the dynasty behind the Berwind Corporation.
The privately-held firm is a successor to the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company, co-founded by Edward Julius Berwind, his brother Charles Berwind, and US Congressman Allison White.
The company was incorporated in 1886.
By the turn of the century, it had grown to become one of the country's — and the world's — largest coal producers.
In 1962, as coal had become progressively supplanted by other energy sources, a new generation of the Berwind family assumed leadership of the Berwind Corporation and began to move towards investment management.
In the years that followed, the family began leasing the company's properties and diversifying into ownership of other businesses.
The Philadelphia-based Berwind Corporation now comprises six operating companies with investments across a number of industries including pharmaceuticals, speciality chemicals, medical packaging, automotive, life sciences, energy, general industrial, and natural resources, representing billions of dollars in enterprise value.
According to its website, a "significant portion of Berwind's revenue is derived internationally and Berwind has an aggressive acquisition programme to reinvest its strong annual operating cash flows in future growth opportunities".
Berwind Corporation's property assets alone are estimated to be worth up to €3bn.
Mr Berwind's personal net worth is estimated to be in the region of $500m to more than $1bn.
Apart from his involvement with the corporation which bears his family name, James Berwind is also the director of Spring Point Partners, a "social impact organisation that invests in the transformative leaders, networks, and solutions that power community change".
Described as an environmental architect and animal-rights activist, Mr Berwind, who is currently based in Florida, appears to have spent much of the last few years sailing aboard his private yacht, Scout, with his partner Kevin Clark and their dogs.
Scout, an 83m (209ft) superyacht purchased in 2020 for €80m, can accommodate up to 10 guests, as well as a crew of 14.
The vessel sailed into Kinsale in June 2023, and while it had stopped off at a handful of other locations in Ireland beforehand, it seems Mr Berwind and his partner were particularly taken with Kinsale.
So much so that, in July 2023, they reportedly purchased 'Sprayfield', a single-storey, 311 sqm Georgian Waterfront property by Kinsale's Sandycove for somewhere in the region of €4.5m.
Mr Berwind and his partner are also believed to have been the purchasers of 'Seaspray' an ultra-modern €5.5m home situated in the nearby locality of Scilly, close to the Spaniard Inn.
This week came the news that James Berwind had been linked 'Valley House' in Ballynabooley, located about 1km from 'Sprayfield'.
All told, the three properties linked to Mr Berwind are worth a combined €16m, making him Kinsale's biggest private property purchaser to date.
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