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Activate Capital team Run in the Dark
The Activate Capital team took to the streets of Dublin last night to participate in the Run in the Dark event to raise money for the Mark Pollock Trust, a movement working towards curing paralysis.
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Activate closes funding round as it targets €1bn in 2018
The Irish Times article on Activate Capital’s successful fundraising.
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Activate Capital to grow to €1bn with additional fundraising
Activate Capital to grow to €1bn with additional fundraising. ISIF and KKR commit an additional €270 million.
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State-backed Activate Capital funding development of 1,200 homes
State-backed Activate Capital funding development of 1,200 homes. Residential finance provider Activate Capital has now committed funding for sites in the greater Dublin area with the capacity to build 1,200 new homes. Activate Capital is a joint venture between the State-controlled Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and global investment firm KKR. The sites are a mix of both zoned and planned locations with the type of houses ranging from starter to larger family homes. The first houses backed by Activate are due to hit the market in October. Activate chief executive Robert Gallagher said the Government’s housing action plan is to be welcomed. “A significant inhibitor of progress has been the inability of house builders to access sufficient capital to progress their plans. Our capital partners ISIF and KKR have agreed to amend their facilities so that we can offer competitively priced loans across the development risk spectrum. This is particularly timely given the Government’s initiative and the pent up demand for development finance,” he said. The investment chief continued, saying while there is an increase in projects in its pipeline there needs to be much more development activity in the market to make a meaningful impact on the housing shortages. “The greater availability and affordability of bespoke capital for house building will undoubtedly help move the dial. Given this, we anticipate a material uplift in activity in 2017, not just in Dublin but also in other urban locations around the country.” Activate has also added to its executive team recently, with Dan Murphy joining from AIB, Emmet O’Reilly from Argentum Homes and Ciaran O’Toole from Ulster Bank. Activate has also appointed Stewart Harrington as a Non-Executive Director.
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Ireland Strategic Investment Fund Announce €500M Home-Building Finance Joint Venture with Leading Global Investment Firm KKR
The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (“ISIF“), managed by the National Treasury Management Agency (“NTMA“), together with KKR Credit, have today announced the launch of a new €500 million joint venture, which transforms the funding options available to the Irish house building sector and will be capable of financing the construction of over 11,000 new homes in Ireland. Activate Capital will focus exclusively on lending to Irish residential development projects. The lending platform will facilitate home-builders in engaging in medium/large scale housing schemes, delivering a material increase in housing supply. Activate Capital will lend on a commercial basis to projects, providing home-building companies with cost effective loans for up to 90 per cent of the total financing requirement. As a large and labour intensive sector, recovery in the construction industry will be critical to the realisation of further employment gains in Ireland. The establishment of Activate Capital is intended as a significant step towards unlocking credit for Irish house builders. Projects funded by the new joint venture are expected to create an average of 1,900 full-time jobs per annum in construction and ancillary services. ISIF will contribute €325 million towards the joint venture, making it the biggest single investment yet undertaken by ISIF. KKR will provide the remaining €175 million.
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