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The CRISPY* takeover *That's Cash Rich Irish Seeking Property and if(Daily Mail Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) THEY are Cash Rich, Irish, and Seeking Property - and there are now so many that the English have come up with an acronym for them. Property analysts have started dubbing Irish property tycoons and investment companies 'CRISPYs'. As it emerged that tycoons Johnny Ronan and Richard Barrett this week snapped up one iconic London landmark, Battersea Power Station, for e594.5million, UK experts say that Irish cash is actually helping boost the English economy. DTZ - one of the world's largest real estate advisers - says Ireland has overtaken the United States as the single biggest international investor in UK commercial property, with 75 per cent of the money coming from private investors. Private developers such as former tax inspector Derek Quinlan, financier Dermot Desmond and thoroughbred stud owner John Magnier accounted for almost 22 per cent - e4billion - of the total e18.2billion spent by overseas investors in 2005. The biggest buys of the year so far have included Mr Quinlan's e802million purchase of 3.4 acres of prime Knightsbridge real estate and Anglo Irish Assurance snapping up Croydon's Whitgift Shopping Centre for e326million. And Mr Ronan and Mr Barrett hit the headlines early this decade when their Treasury Holdings headed up a failed e186million bid to acquire the Millennium Dome. But the scale of the impact of purchases by Irish developers goes way beyond the prices paid. For example, Mr Ronan and Mr Barrett's development of Battersea Power Station is likely to lead to the creation of more than 4,000 jobs and cost an additional sum of about e2.9billion over a time frame of up to ten years. The acronym CRISPY - Cash Rich Irish Seeking Property - was coined by industry insiders last year after a string of purchases by Derek Quinlan - which include the Berkeley and Savoy hotels for e1.1billion, and the e32.6million Donna Karan shop in Old Bond Street. But it finally hit the national headlines this week - changing into CRISPI (Cash Rich Irish Seeking Property Investments) after Corkman Mr Ronan and Mayo native Mr Barrett's Battersea deal. Theirs is the latest in a raft of deals by a growing number of developers that includes Sen Mulryan - who had planned to bid e891million for the Battersea Power Station but walked away because of planning restrictions - and Belfry owner Sen Quinn. Others include 36-year-old Aidan Brooks, whose purchases over the years have included the d326million Unilever offices in London's Westminster, a 56.4million Home Office building near Parliament Square and Gucci's e7.4million outlet in posh Mayfair. Samantha McClary, news editor at the UK property industry 'bible' Estates Gazettes, said last night: 'Over the past few years, Irish developers have really started buying up large amounts of UK property and we started noticing agents referring to them as CRISPYs. It's a term of endearment and marks a complete shift in attitude towards the Irish from the days when you were more likely to find Irishmen building rather than owning such prime real estate. 'The joke now is that if you don't actually know who is behind a property deal in the UK, you just say there is an Irish person involved because nowadays, there tends to be an Irish investor lurking somewhere in the deal.' Trevor Gill, associate director of international investment at DTZ Sherry Fitzgerald, said: 'While some Irish investors are looking elsewhere for commercial property investments due to the recent movement in yields, overall there appears to be little sign of a falloff in demand from Irish investors who are looking to take advantage of the growth prospects for London.' He said that the factors fuelling demand remained the same - 'the positive rental growth story for the UK, a lack of available product in the Irish market, the availability of finance from Irish lending institutions for UK property transactions and a familiar market'. Richard Holberton, from real estate specialists CB Richard Ellis added: 'Irish investors have accounted for nearly ten per cent of central London office investment acquisitions in the past two years. 'While the combination of falling investment yields and increases in the cost of borrowing is something of a deterrent for highly geared purchasers, Irish investors remain a significant presence in the market.' Copyright 2006 Daily Mail. Source: Financial Times Information Limited - Europe Intelligence Wire. |