Cairn is set to build more than 1,000 homes in Donabate, north Co Dublin, after the housebuilder paid more than €50 million for a site there.
The Sunday Times understands that Cairn has done an off-market deal with the Oaktree-backed Cannon Kirk to purchase the land.
The move represents a big re-entry into the acquisitions market for the listed company, which has been largely absent from it in recent years.
Last year Cairn made acquisitions worth €57.9 million compared with purchases of about €470 million in its first year of operation in 2015.
Further site acquisitions could follow this year.
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In its latest trading update published this month, Cairn said it would build 2,200 homes this year, an increased guidance of 30 per cent on the previous year. It expects to generate an operating profit of €145 million. The company said that demand for its new homes was “exceptionally high across all tenure types”. The housebuilder has agreed terms in recent weeks with a university for the forward-funded delivery of 500 student beds.
At Donabate, the company will likely build 1,020 homes in a €300 million-plus development.
In March, residents agreed to drop a judicial review on the site, which effectively gave Cannon Kirk the go-ahead to build 1,323 homes there. In the meantime, however, the builder had also gone to Fingal county council to secure planning permission for fewer homes — 1,020 apartments and houses — which was granted.
This latest design of the site would include houses for private sale, apartments, sheltered housing, two childcare facilities and three shops, as well as a medical centre and a community centre.
A 13-hectare nature park is also planned, as are links to the Broadmeadow Greenway.
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While a spokesman for Cairn refused to comment on the acquisition, The Sunday Times understands that development of the site could start within the next three to four months.
The Dublin-based Cannon Kirk, which is owned by the Mayo brothers Michael and Cathal Cannon and the developer Owen Kirk, exited Nama in 2017 after it secured financing from Oaktree Capital Management, an American private equity firm, to help repay its outstanding debt.
Oaktree agreed to provide more than €100 million to Cannon Kirk and took an equity stake in the company.
The development was being built in association with Lioncor, a development company jointly owned by Oaktree and Alanis Capital.
The sale is the latest example of the retrenchment of Oaktree, one of the country’s most active property buyers in recent years, from the Dublin market.
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In March, The Sunday Times reported that Oaktree was looking for funding partners to build out the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Dublin.
The company has been looking for strategic institutional investors for the construction of a life sciences-led campus and new phases of homes.
Last week it agreed to have receivers placed on the Square shopping centre in Tallaght, which it was selling.
In recent months receivers were also appointed to two office buildings in the North Docks in Dublin, and placed on the market for €125 million.
