Barings has provided a €70.1m (62.5% LTV) investment facility to the JMK Group secured against the Holiday Inn Dublin Airport Hotel. The hotel, which has 421 bedrooms, was developed by the JMK Group and opened in 2021. The investment loan refinances the existing development facility provided by FREF to fund the construction of the hotel. Barings and FREF, which provided a senior loan and a junior loan respectively, agreed the facility for a four-year term.
The syndication of the loan was arranged by Brotherton, who brought Barings into the facility as the senior lender. The loan marks the latest in Barings’ real estate debt activity in Ireland, having entered the core western European country’s logistics market late last year with two loans worth a total of around €225m.
Chris Bates, Managing Director and Head of Europe Real Estate Debt Origination at Barings, said: “With our real estate debt activity in Europe continuing to grow, adding this loan secured against such a well-located asset in Ireland is the latest addition to our portfolio. As our loan book expands, we’re eager to identify further investment opportunities.”
Chris Davison, Head of Deal Origination at FREF said: “We are delighted to close this loan with Barings and to continue to support the growth of the JMK Group. Having supported the JMK Group through the development phase, it is great to see this hotel open and trading, with the potential to become one of the best hotels in Ireland.”
John Kajani, Founder and CEO of the JMK Group said: “We thank Fairfield for belief in JMK and the Holiday Inn Dublin airport project by supporting us via the development loan. We are pleased they stayed on as part of the investment loan. We are excited to start a new beginning with Barings. We look forward to driving this hotel to be one of the best in Ireland.”
Tim Vaughan, Managing Director at Brotherton said: “We’re delighted to support FREF with the syndication of the whole loan they have originated with the JMK Group and to bring in Barings to take the senior tranche secured against this first-class asset. We’re seeing more debt funds looking to bring in senior lenders alongside them as loan on loan lenders struggle to maintain the leverage and pricing levels they have been at over the last few years.”
