Norwegians buy bank

Confidence in investment recovery in the past year is evident in the €3m-plus sale to Norwegian buyers of a Bank of Ireland bank branch in Cork’s Wilton suburb.

Scandinavian family trust, Adel Crest, has now added the €3m bank buy at Wilton to its earlier €15m plus investment swoop, (reported here in January), on offices in Cork Airport Business Park, and the same trust is actively pursuing other Cork and Irish purchases, according to sources.

The Bank of Ireland branch at Wilton went to market in January 2013 with Margaret Kelleher of Lisney, guiding €2.5m for a receiver, and was sale agreed later that year before a difficulty arose. It was re-offered to the market, and went to a best bids process by Christmas — by which time a new swathe of investor interest became evident.