“Property investment fund Yew Tree Commercial Real Estate has built up what is being described as an “opportunistic and diverse range of property investments over the last six months”.

The Irish based fund is said to be primarily targeting single let and multi-let regional assets with secure tenant covenant and strong unexpired lease terms. The fund is understood to be focussed on securing “good real estate which is fit for purpose and attracts tenants with strong covenants”.

Peak Capital Advisors and TWM, the advisor and agent to the fund, have acquired a portfolio of high yielding assets and have an appetite to continue buying with a number of deals currently in legals.

The range of investments acquired include; a 50,000 sq ft commercial unit in Athlone let to a global pharmaceutical company, a retail investment in the Bridge Centre Tullamore, an Industrial unit in West Dublin let to a multinational healthcare company and Industrial units in Toughers Business Park, Naas.

Yew Tree bought the Athlone unit last month in a deal worth €3.1m. That sale price equated to a net initial yield of some 11.9pc. The property was constructed in 2009 and is on a 25 year FRI lease from 2009. It is producing a rent roll of €386,689 per annum at present.

Justin Noonan from TWM said the fund is a cash buyer with a strong professional team advising who deal expediently in regional markets and this has made them compelling buyers for vendors.

The fund’s entrance to the market comes as investment volumes in Irish commercial property reached a record high in 2014. With portfolios of assets and loans accounting for a significant share of the activity many buyers are looking for an exit strategy for the smaller individual assets and Yew Tree are specialising in this section of the market, Mr Noonan added.

While most of the media attention has been on the huge investment firms coming in from overseas to buy Irish property, Yew Tree is one of a small number of domestic-based players that have been able to build up a strong portfolio and has been able to operate relatively under the radar in the market up to now.

The big US firms such as Blackstone and Lone Star have been the ones that have made waves by buying billions of euro worth of assets but that activity has helped drwa attention away from the large number of lower key deals that have been done around the country in the past 18 months.

Most of those sales have been in the €2m to €10m range and have been carried out across the country.

Unlike the overseas buyers, the domestic investors have been more willing to look for property outside Dublin as long as they can be found on good terms with a high yield and strong tenants.”

Link to Article: http://www.independent.ie/business/commercial-property/yew-tree-is-latest-domestic-investor-to-build-up-portfolio-31025528.html