Citigroup is close to signing a new deal which would move its European headquarters to a new locale in Dublin, after its old waterfront office address was put on the market in March.
The bank’s €100 million ($99.1 million) deal to buy a new office site in the heart of Dublin aligns with Citi’s move to enhance its presence across the European Union following Brexit, the Financial Times reported Tuesday (Sept. 6).
Citi said it was planning to hire 300 people in Ireland to fill roles in risk, audit, finance, technology and operations. Unnamed sources with insider information told the FT the company is in the midst of finalizing a deal to close on 300,000 square feet of office space in the Dublin Docklands, which is also home to Google, Amazon and Meta, among other tech companies.
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As much as €200 million could be needed to buy the new land and real estate, the sources said, and the deal could close this month. The report noted that the new site is nearly one-third bigger than Citi’s current Dublin site, which measures 230,000 square feet.
“This process is still ongoing and we have no updates at this time,” a Citi spokesperson said, per the report. Sources told the FT the move was due to the company needing a bigger space in Dublin, which had nothing to do with relocations from London.
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Having held a presence in Ireland since 1965, Citi employs more than 2,500 people in the country and made Dublin its European headquarters in 2016. It oversees operations in 22 countries from the Irish capital.
Citi recently narrowed its real estate search down to the last big undeveloped Docklands site, jointly owned by Ireland’s Ronan Group and Fortress Investment Group of the US.
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