Niall Gaffney
CEO of IPUT
Real Estate & Construction / Ireland
“The leading commercial property fund in the market”
Ireland’s premier commercial property fund, IPUT, is marking 50 years of consistent income returns for shareholders in Dublin’s commercial real estate.
CEO Niall Gaffney explained how IPUT has forged new opportunities despite previous market challenges.
How do you assess Ireland’s property market?
It is buoyant. As well as domestic investment, we see a significant commitment coming from the USA, Germany and the rest of Europe. Dublin’s property sector is now in a stabilized investment phase. The opportunistic phase is over, the recovery phase has occurred, and Ireland is now in a steady position with long-term investors active in the market. The country continues to benefit from inward investment by multinationals, which is amplifying demand in the letting of commercial property.
How is IPUT capitalizing on this upward trend?
We have a prime commercial portfolio valued at €2 billion invested in nearly 100 properties, mainly in Dublin. This makes us the leading commercial property fund in the market. Founded in 1967, we have a long-term investment strategy, and a track record of balancing risk and opportunity. Recent years have been particularly active and we have deployed over €1 billion since 2012 at an average yield of 6 per cent. Financial services account for a quarter of our tenants, with legal firms, international retailers and technology/media firms also being significant tenants.
Major tenants include BNY Mellon, Accenture, Citadel and HSBC. By the end of the decade, the IPUT fund should grow to reach €2.5 billion to €3 billion.
What figures best showcase IPUT’s resilience?
Even during the recent recession, we continued to pay strong dividends and our dividend yield averaged 6.4 per cent between 2007-2016.
Our track record demonstrates the resilience of our income stream, which is underwritten by quality tenants and an experienced management team. We achieved an unleveraged total property return of 13 per cent in 2016. We are an actively managed core income fund with a 50-year track record of paying dividends to shareholders.
