Zara Boss Pulls Out Of €550M Meta Office Deal

The billionaire founder and owner of fashion retailer Zara has pulled out of a €550M deal to buy the office development that forms part of Meta Platforms Inc.’s European headquarters in Dublin.

Amancio Ortega was slated to sign contracts for the deal late in 2022 but the Sunday Times reported that he has now backed out of the acquisition, leaving Fortress Investment Group to find a new buyer.

The news sees the biggest ongoing deal in Dublin collapse, with a rocky road for the market widely predicted this year, before stabilisation in early 2024.

Meta signed a 25-year lease on the Fibonacci Square complex in Ballsbridge in 2018 and is understood to have agreed to an annual rent of €22.5M, with the first payments due in 2024 following the expiry of an agreed rent-free period of about 18 months, the Times reported.

However, a decision by the tech giant last year to only occupy space at the rear of the site and to seek to sublet the remainder impacted the valuation of the project, according to the report.

That in part is believed to have prompted the derailment of the deal between Ortega’s family office, Pontegadea Inversiones, and U.S. private equity firm Fortress.

The 375K SF office space is being developed by Johnny Ronan’s RGRE and the Dublin 4 offices are nearing completion.

Meta signed a 25-year lease with Fibonacci Property ICAV, a joint venture between RGRE and its then funding partners Colony Capital, for Fibonacci Square in 2018. The agreement contains a break option after 15 years.

U.S. investor Blackstone completed the €395M purchase of 339.5K SF of office space in 2022 across four existing blocks occupied by Meta to the rear of its new European headquarters campus.

Previously a part of AIB’s former Bankcentre headquarters, the four blocks had previously been owned by the Serpentine consortium, a syndicate of private companies and individuals assembled by AIB Private Banking and Goodbody Stockbrokers.