An Irish property investment group has taken advantage of falling interest rates and the weakening dollar in the US by acquiring the Boston Stock Exchange building.

Dublin-based Signature Capital completed the deal, estimated to be worth around $40 million (€26 million), last week - a landmark investment that has bought it the third-oldest stock exchange in the US.

Located on Franklin Street, in the heart of Boston's financial district, the 120,000 square foot building was originally built in 1908.

Most recently renovated in 1998, the Boston Stock Exchange's operations were acquired by owner of the New York-based Nasdaq stock exchange, Nasdaq OMX, last year.

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The Exchange occupies around one third of the building's floor space, with the rest let out to banks and legal firms.

Signature Capital's Managing Director attributed the so-called 'credit crunch' to the ease at which some investors are taking advantages of banks' faltering capital raising power, making the pool of potential buyers for such substantial properties smaller.

MD Ciaran McNamara told the Sunday Business Post: "There is a great asset management opportunity with this property, which will greatly enhance its value in the next couple of years."

"The credit crunch is creating some very good opportunities in the US market and the substantial fall in US interest rates, coupled with the weak dollar, makes these assets even more attractive," he added.

Set up in 2004, the Signature group has attained a portfolio worth more than €600 million, focusing mostly on properties in the US, Germany and Britain.

(PR/JM)