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Press Room
Press Release / 24th January 2011
Innovative financing package secures re-financing of 17 Columbus Courtyard
Vico Capital has secured a £107 million refinancing of 17 Columbus Courtyard in Canary Wharf, London. The property is on a long FR&I lease to Credit Suisse International and forms part of its European Headquarters.
The transaction was arranged by Duet Private Equity Ltd, through its real estate mezzanine financing platform, and was funded in partnership with MetLife and another partner. The financing was provided to refinance an existing loan.
Brian O’Donnell, Chairman of Vico Capital, comments “Vico Capital welcomes its partnership with MetLife and Duet Private Equity Ltd in completing a sophisticated and innovative transaction during a challenging period for the U.K. commercial real estate market.”
Philip Moore, Investment Manager at Duet, comments “We are pleased to have completed such a complex transaction on a tight timeline. We believe this type of structure will serve as a template to refinance high leverage loans against high quality assets going forward.”
Vico Capital is a private equity group based in London specialising in core real estate assets in business and financial centres. Other key assets of Vico Capital include 15 Westferry Circus in Canary Wharf, Sanctuary Buildings in Westminster, Fatburen Buildings in Stockholm and 2099 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.
Duet Private Equity Ltd, through its real estate mezzanine financing platform, provides mezzanine financing for European commercial properties.
MetLife has recently increased their lending activity in the UK. Through its Real Estate Investments department, MetLife oversees a well-diversified, approximately $46 billion property portfolio, which is one of the largest in the U.S. and consists of investment property, commercial mortgages and agricultural mortgages. MetLife is a global leader in real estate investment and real estate asset management, with a network of regional offices that keep in close contact with the major property markets. MetLife’s real estate investment focus includes prime office, industrial and retail properties.
MetLife, Inc. is a leading global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs, serving 90 million customers in over 60 countries. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.
Property Week / 19th September 2008
Vico Capital has been named as a nominee for the
Property Week Irish Property Awards 2008 in the category of International Property Achievement. The awards recognise excellence in the Irish property industry and include twenty categories that reward outstanding performance in investment, innovation, management and development.
Estates Gazette / 28th June 2008
Irish Buyer Sets Office Record in Washington
Irish Solicitor Brian O'Donnell has paid a record-setting $172.5m (£86.9m) for an office building in Washington DC.
O'Donnell's Vico Capital set a record of $867 (£436.60) per sq ft with its acquisition of the 199,000 sq ft property on Pennsylvania Avenue. The previous record in the American capital was $827 per sq ft.
The seven-year-old building - located a few blocks from the White House - is let to law firm Holland & Knight, merchant bank Perseus and Fortune 500 investment company Danaher Corporation.
In the UK, Vico owns the Sanctuary Buildings at 14-26 Great Smith Street, SW1, and 17 Columbus Courtyard and 15 Westferry Circus, both in E14.
Vendor German fund Capital Holdings GmbH was unrepresented.
RTE Business News / Tuesday, 24 June 2008 13:12
Irish investor buys Washington building
Property company Jones Lang LaSalle has completed the sale of a building in the US capital Washington DC to an Irish investor for $172.5m (€111m).
The 199,000 square feet office building on Pennsylvania Avenue is located just blocks from the White House.
It has been bought by Vico Capital, the investment vehicle of Brian and Dr Mary Patricia O'Donnell. Mr O'Donnell is chairman of Brian O'Donnell & Partners, the corporate law firm.
The building is currently leased to three tenants - law firm Holland and Knight, private equity fund management company Perseus and investment company Danaher Corporation.
2099 Pennsylvania Avenue was designed by the internationally renowned architect IM Pei and was completed seven years ago. The building was bought from the German-based Wealth Management Capital Holding.
WASHINGTON POST 21st April 2008
Foreign Buyers Flock to D.C. Office Market
Vico Capital outbid a group from Dubai, sealing the deal at $172.5 million. It bested by nearly $40 per square foot the city's last high-water mark: the sale of 1801 Pennsylvania Ave. NW in 2006 for $826 per square foot. The Pennsylvania Avenue building is occupied by Holland and Knight law firm, investor Perseus and manufacturer Danaher. With a glass facade, multiple terraces, marbled lobby and premier view of the White House, it is among the most expensively appointed properties in the city. The inventory of such buildings is relatively small -- less than 1 percent of the upper echelon of the Class A commercial market is currently available, according to Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate firm in Virginia -- and they don't come on the market that often.
WASHINGTON - PR NEWSWIRE 16th April 2008
Irish Investor Enters U.S. Market with Purchase of 2099 Pennsylvania Avenue for $172.5 Million
"A true trophy like 2099 Pennsylvania Avenue is rarely offered for sale, and as such, provides Vico with an opportunity to capture the enormous upside inherent in this segment of the market, especially given their long-term view of the market," says Mr. Kevill. "This record-breaking price is proof that there is global capital available for 'best of class' assets in supply-constrained, prestigious locations like Washington, D.C."
Vico Capital's tenacity and willingness to secure the asset competitively won the contest. Vico's investment could become one of the smartest purchases with below market rents in the property rolling in the next four years.
Mr. Ege adds, "This transaction truly represents a win-win for both buyer and seller. Wealth Management has been able to provide their investors with a great return over their seven-year hold period, while Vico will receive higher-than-market cash on cash returns in the future as leases turn over, due to the dramatic recent rental increases in the trophy segment of the market."
The property is currently 100 percent leased to three tenants: Holland and Knight, a prestigious global law firm; Perseus, a merchant bank and private equity fund management company; and Danaher Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that invests in and acquires technology and manufacturing companies.
Delivered in 2001, the building was designed by I. M. Pei of the internationally renowned architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed and Partners. The building has a floor-to-ceiling glass facade, multiple terraces, a lobby composed entirely of Tennessee marble and stellar White House and city views. Other amenities include an on-site fitness center, 24-hour security guard services and underground parking.
GlobeSt.com 15th April 2008
Vico Capital acquires CBD Office for $173M
Designed by architecture firm Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, the building houses Holland and Knight, the investment bank Perseus, and Danaher, among other investment-grade tenants. The acquisition has brought the value of Vico Capital's property assets to more than $2 billion. It also fits in with Vico's investment criteria of high-quality buildings in prime locations with credit-worthy tenants. At more than $850 per sf, this is one of the largest transactions in the District for quite some time, Tonya Ginter, director of Research and Marketing at GVA Advantis tells GrobeSt.com.
Estates Gazette 2nd April 2007
Vico Capital makes first major Scandinavian investment
Dublin-based solicitor Brian O'Donnell has made his first major investment into Scandinavia. O'Donnell's Vico Capital has bought Stockholm's landmark office building Fatburen from Danish property investment and development company Keops for SEK2.66bn (£194m).
The building comprises 14 office wings across nine floors and has a total lettable area of 520,000 sq ft.
The building is fully let, with 93% of the offices occupied by state tenants, including the Swedish Revenue Authorities.
Keops bought the building for SEK2bn in May 2005.
In the UK, Vico owns the Sanctuary Buildings at 14-26 Great Smith Street, SW1 and 17 Columbus Courtyard and 15 Westferry Circus, both in Canary Wharf, E14.
Irish Times 31st March 2007
O'Donnell property portfolio nears €1bn
The publicly declared value of the international property portfolio being amassed by Dublin solicitor Brian O'Donnell and his wife Dr Mary Patricia O'Donnell has come close to €1bn after a €285 million deal in Sweden, their first in Scandinavia.
The couple's investment vehicle, Vico Capital has acquired the Fatburen building in Stockholm, a landmark 520,000 sq ft building which houses the headquarters of the Swedish revenue authorities.
Danish group Keops realised SEK2.66 billion (€285 million) from the sale, which has been described as the largest commercial property transaction in Sweden so far this year.
The Swedish deal, combined with three British transactions in the past two years, brings the declared value of their international assets to €929 million.
The firm is highly acquisitive – it bought a number of Irish properties last year – so the total value of its assets under management is likely to exceed €1 billion.
Business Week 29th May 2007
The New Keops
Fatburen office complex was sold by Keops Group, a Danish property development and management outfit that, like many European companies, is disposing of real estate to strengthen its balance sheet. It was acquired by Vico Capital, a Dublin based investment company that in recent months also has acquired more than $800 million in commercial property in London.
Property Week 1st September 2006
O'Donnells secure Sanctuary Buildings for £170m
Irish private investors Brian and Dr Mary Patricia O'Donnell have made a £170m swoop for the Sanctuary Buildings at 14-26 Great Smith Street, London SW1.
The pair bough the 227,000 sq ft (21,088 sq m) property via investment vehicle Vico Capital from Sallarin, a joint venture company of DCD London & Mutual and TAIB Bank. The entire building is let on a long lease to the Crown as the headquarters of the Secretary of State for Education & Skills. It is understood that the rent on Sanctuary Buildings is highly reversionary.
The purchase is the latest in a long string of high-profile deals completed by the acquisitive pair and follows Vico Capital's strategy to acquire grade A office buildings with strong institutional tenants in prime locations in London, parts of Europe and the USA.
Sunday Times 20th March 2005
Irish Lawyer's €200m Canary Wharf coup
The Dublin lawyer Brian O'Donnell audaciously snatched a €200m London docklands property from under the noses of the UK property firms British Land and London & Regional Properties in the space of just eight hours last week.
O'Donnell and his wife Mary Patricia have emerged as the sole owners of 15 Westferry Circus. The couple purchased the property from Canary Wharf Group. O'Donnell clinched the deal when he reacted quickest to changes announced in the British budget by Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Final bids on the Canary Wharf property were due on 17th March. O'Donnell dropped his initial offer by 2%, effectively “splitting” the stamp duty exemption with Canary Wharf. The deal was closed in the final hour of 16th March.