Mulryan and Kelly agree purchase and leaseback of 47 Citibank properties

Dublin-based Markland holdings, jointly owned by Irish property entrepreneurs Sean Mulryan and Paddy Kelly, has made a $100m (£51m) New York purchase.

The investment and development group has bought 47 Citibank properties, which comprise bank branches and offices, across New York and the wider state that will be leased back to the bank. The price reflects a yield of around 6%.

Citibank will lease back the buildings for 15 years but has the right to occupy the properties for the next 30 years.

Markland Holdings is owned by Mulryan, founder of Ballymore, and Kelly, a fellow entrepreneur. It is run by managing director Aidan Scully.

Mulryan first invested with Kelly in the late 1980s in Markland House Properties, before making his fortune with Ballymore in the 1990s.

Markland has a property portfolio valued at more than €450m (£353m) and invests in offices, industrial facilities, retail and development land throughout Europe. Its head office is in Dublin but it also has offices in the Czech Republic. It owns shopping centres in the UK and has assets in Ireland, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Citibank, which is the consumer banking arm of Citi, has been badly hit by the global credit crunch.

Citi is set to cut 1,600 jobs in New York City and 200 jobs in New York State as part of plans to shed 17,000 jobs worldwide. In January it reported a loss of $9.8bn (£5bn) in the last three months of 2007 and a $5.11bn (£2.7bn) loss in the first quarter of 2007.

Mulryan is also investing overseas through Ballymore International into eastern Europe, China, India, and the United States. The venture is the first time Mulryan’s company has opened up to third-party investors.

Last year Ballymore International began equity raising through Irish stockbroker and investment bank Davy to raise more than €1bn (£785m) for overseas development and investments.

New York’s investment market is suffering from a seizure in debt markets and a stand-off between buyers and sellers that has resulted in a dramatic drop in sales – from $28.3bn (£14.3bn) during the first quarter of 2007 to just $5.1bn (£2.6bn) in 2008, according to Cushman and Wakefield.

Markland could be trying to take advantage of this buyers’ market where UK and European investors can take advantage of the favourable exchange rate.

Savills Granite acted for Markland.