Savills Granite, a locally based investment banking firm, who represented the buyer, would not comment on the identity of the investment group. However, Kenneth Zakin, senior managing director of NKF, who headed the sales team, and worked in cooperation with Citigroup Global Markets, Citigroup's investment banking division, confirms to GlobeSt.com that the buyer is Dublin-based Markland Holdings Ltd., a company backed by Irish developers Paddy Kelly and Sean Mulryan.

[IMGCAP(2)]Of the 47 properties, which range in size from 2,000 sf to 8,000 sf, 20 are in Nassau, eight are in Suffolk, three are in Queens, four are in Brooklyn, three are in the Bronx, three are in Statin Island, five are in Westchester and one is in Upper Manhattan. Markland Holdings has agreed to lease the properties back to Citibank N.A. on a 15-year lease.

As GlobeSt.com previously reported, there was no asking price for the portfolio. Initial bids were collected in early October. Zakin previously told GlobeSt.com that the buildings were offered as a package, as individual properties, or broken up into several smaller portfolios.

"Foreign investors like the attractive yields that US properties can achieve for them," Borja Sierra, executive managing director of Savills Granite, tells GlobeSt.com. "In addition, Citi plans to stay in these branches for a long time so the buyer of this portfolio will generate a steady stream of rental income within strong retail locations." Sierra says that the US property market is a big draw for foreign capital and that this deal "reinforces how offshore investors are still eying large-scale deals here."

Zakin previously told GlobeSt.com that Citigroup was committed to long-term occupancy of the locations but did not have the need to continue to own the locations. He also explained that this was the second such offering Citigroup and NKF has brought to the market in 2007. In June 2007, the team closed on the sale of a 23-branch, 217,000-sf Citibank portfolio, with properties centered in the New York City metro area.

Zakin tells GlobeSt.com that there was a lot of interest from "those who didn't win the first time around." He says that back in June, there was significant local interest in that package, and this time, the portfolio attracted foreign interest. "It was sort of a mixed-bag of interest," he explains, noting that there were 1031 buyers, net lease buyer, foreign buyers and many others. "This is part of Citibank's long-term plan to reduce their real estate holdings," he tells GlobeSt.com.

Zakin previously told GlobeSt.com that the portfolio has "great credit, great locations, long-term leases and stable cash flow with annual increases. In a market that is seeing clear flight to quality, the diversification and credit nature of these transactions has made this a very desirable transaction," he said.

Other members of the NKF sales team for the Citibank portfolio were Neil Goldmacher, EVP; Geoffrey Rockhill, senior managing director; Randall Liberman, associate, and Justin DiMare, associate. Steven Moore, VP, leads the Citigroup Global Markets team.