Ireland’s biggest bookseller was already facing legal actions from the owners of its other units
German property giant Deka Immobilien has become the third landlord to sue Ireland’s biggest bookseller Eason over unpaid rents.
Deka’s DIE Ireland ICAV vehicle has filed papers initiating legal action at the High Court against two units of the Eason group, in a case that is understood to relate to rent owed on two Eason stores, one at the Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge, County Kildare and a second at Mahon Point Shopping Centre in Cork.
Sources close to the situation say that Eason is paying a proportion of rent on each of its units across the country but they say that meeting the full rent rolls while trading is restricted as a result of the pandemic is challenging.
Some of the group’s stores, including the outlet in Mahon Point, remain open as essential retail under Level 5 restrictions.
Sources said the company has engaged intensively with landlords since writing to them all in May last year.
The Eason group was already facing legal actions from the owners of two of its other units.
One of those is Shop Street in Galway, owned by a French investor, and the other is in the Galway Shopping Centre on the city’s Headford Road, which is owned by a unit of Pat Doherty’s Harcourt Developments
Deka has bought around half a billion euro of Irish property in recent years, paying €250m for the Mahon Point Shopping Centre in Cork and €180m for Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge, County Kildare.
A spokesman for Eason declined to comment directly on the latest actions but said the chain’s focus since the start of the pandemic has been on ensuring the overall survival of the business.
