Allianz takes half of €300m Morgan Stanley Dublin loan

Allianz Real Estate has made its first foray into Ireland with a €150m participation in a €300m Morgan Stanley acquisition loan to Starwood Property Trust. The five-year, floating rate loan, with an LTV below 60%, is secured on 11 office buildings and one residential property, all in Dublin.

Allianz Real Estate has made its first foray into Ireland with a €150m participation in a €300m Morgan Stanley acquisition loan to Starwood Property Trust.

The five-year, floating rate loan, with an LTV below 60%, is secured on 11 office buildings and one residential property, all in Dublin.

Starwood Property Trust, the mortgage REIT managed by US-private equity firm Starwood Capital, bought the portfolio from Lone Star in March this year for around €350m.

The original portfolio contained only four assets and Starwood has acquired another seven since. Morgan Stanley provided €245m for the initial purchase.

Watermarque Building, Dublin
Watermarque Building, Dublin

“The assets are all located in a thriving area in the city centre of Dublin and are almost fully let to high quality credit-rated or government linked tenants,“ said Allianz.

The German lender said it entered the Irish market because it liked the prospects for economic and rental growth. It also considered the assets in the Starwood portfolio to be of very good quality.

Properties in the portfolio include Iveagh Court, the Watermarque Building, Hogan Place and the Irish HQ of insurance firm Marsh, Marsh House. The acquisition is believed to be the Starwood MREIT’s first in Europe of bricks-and-mortar assets rather than loans.

It is the second significant participation from Allianz in the past two months.

In late July, it took a €365m slice of Aareal Bank’s €630m loan to NorthStar Realty Finance, the German insurance company’s first cross-border financing of a pan-European portfolio.