After refinancing its College Square development, M&G Real Estate is looking at ways to recapitalise its €1B Irish build-to-rent portfolio and has instructed JLL to manage the process.

The adviser will initially focus on bringing in a passive equity partner to take a 50% stake in the platform, with M&G seeking to remain involved, and various recap and sales options will be reviewed, Green Street News reported.

The portfolio is managed by Marlet Property Group, which also developed the sites, and includes around 2,000 operational beds across Dublin, including locations at St Clare’s, Harold’s Cross; Claremont, Howth; Dundrum (Green Acre Grange and Walled Garden), One Lime Street; and Grand Canal Harbour.

All of the assets have been developed recently and have high environmental, social and governance standards and are operated at close to full occupancy.

Marlet and M&G had previously explored a sale of the so-called Castle portfolio in 2021, with Blackstone, Union Investments and Kennedy Wilson some of the bidders, according to reports at the time. But the sale failed to progress in part because the process coincided with the Irish government’s decision to lower rent caps from 4% to 2%.

However, the market has been buoyed by a recent revision by the state that will enable landlords to raise rents once a tenant leaves the property, although the announcement has met with mixed sentiment.

In addition, with financing now at a much more competitive underlying rates after another recent cut by the European Central Bank, several financing and refinancing deals have already been inked, and Dublin’s debt market has finally started to thaw, attracting some international investors and debt providers.

M&G was involved in one of the latest and largest deals after Standard Chartered acted as sole underwriter, mandated lead arranger and hedging bank for a €238M financing facility with M&G and Marlet Property Group for their College Square development. The refinancing follows Workday’s decision to lease the whole of College Square’s office space in Europe's largest single office leasing transaction since 2021.