a payment system for digital content/Montevetro

February 17, 2011 -- 3:00 p.m. EST TECHNOLOGY Google Elbows Apple, Woos Publishers

Google fired another salvo in its broadening competition with Apple, opening a payment system for digital content that will let publishers keep a bigger share of revenues than a service launched by Apple this week.

***

Google about to buy Montevetro

Googling it: The Montevetro office building on Barrow St, Dublin 4. A sale of the Treasury Holdings building would be good news for Nama

The Dublin 4 office block may be the first to be sold in in the city at the request of Nama, writes JACK FAGAN

GOOGLE is in advanced negotiations to buy the newly built Montevetro office building at Barrow Street, Dublin 4, for a figure believed to be in the region of €90 million. The 19,000sq m (204,516sq ft) block will be used to accommodate new business activities being developed by the internet search company. The move is likely to open up significant new employment opportunities at the site.

Treasury Holdings, which developed Montevetro on the edge of the Grand Canal Dock, is handling the sale for Nama. Treasury was one of the top 10 developers to have had its loans transferred to Nama in the first half of last year. Should the sale of the new office block proceed as expected, it will be the first landmark property in Dublin to have been offloaded at the request of Nama. The emergence of Google as a potential purchaser will undoubtedly have been welcomed by Nama because of the ongoing difficulties of either leasing such a large office block in the current market or finding a purchaser in the midst of a banking crisis.

Neither Google nor Treasury have commented on the ongoing negotiations which are expected to be wrapped up in the next week.

Nama has not indicated what its timetable will be to sell other Irish properties. The asset management agency has acquired €71 billion worth of loans linked to land and buildings in Ireland. Last year it approved the sale of €2 billion worth of properties. About 90 per cent of the total was in the UK and most of the balance was in Ireland.

Meanwhile Google is also reported to be in discussions to acquire two office blocks opposite Montevetro which serve as its Dublin headquarters. They were built by developer Liam Carroll whose massive bank borrowings were also among the first tranche of loans to have been taken over by Nama. The two buildings are thought to be valued at around €100 million.

Montevetro is one of the tallest buildings in the city – it is mainly 15 storeys – and was intended to serve as a dramatic landmark at one of the entrances to Dublin’s docklands. It adjoins Barrow Street Dart station and is directly opposite the 16-storey Alto Vetro apartment tower which was also built by Treasury.

Google has been one of the fastest growing internet companies in Ireland since opening here in 2005.