Blackstone, Google buy NAMA assets

US private equity Blackstone Group has reportedly acquired three of the four properties in NAMA’s ‘Platinum Portfolio’ of Dublin offices, with Google buying the remaining units.

Blackstone has paid around E100 million for Hume House on Pembroke Road, Bloodstone Building on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and Riverside IV’s Block B on Britain Quay, according to property news outlet CoStar News.

Meanwhile Google is reported to have paid around E65 million for Grand Mill Quay on Barrow St, which it already partially occupies.

The site reports that combined price paid is a 37.5pc increase on the original asking price placed on the portfolio late last year.

It says that the two companies out-bid second round offers from Hibernia REIT and Irish Life, while British property investment firm Delancey was also reported to have been interested at an early stage of the process.

Blackstone has been increasingly active in the Irish market in recent years, buying the Burlington Hotel in Dublin for E67m from receiver Grant Thornton in late 2012.

Google, meanwhile, occupies a significant portion of the office space on Barrow St.

Its European headquarters are in Gordon House, while it bought the Montevetro building from Real Estate Opportunities for E99.9 million in cash in 2011. Media Hub