Swedish pension fund Alecta has acquired a shopping centre in a municipality near Stockholm from a joint venture of European investment manager Rockspring and Nordic asset manager Vencom for SEK 421 mln (€44.5 mln).
The acquisition of Värmdö shopping centre closed on 8 July 2016.
The centre comprises 50 retail units and is the core of the main retail location in the municipality of Värmdö, located east of the city of Stockholm.
Rockspring took ownership of Värmdö shopping centre in 2012 as part of the acquisition of five retail assets in Sweden from Dutch retail property specialist Redevco. Vencom, which was Rockspring's minority partner in the deal, will retain responsibility for the asset management and further development at Värmdö on behalf of Alecta Real Estate.
This is the second significant retail property transaction involving Vencom in Sweden in recent weeks. On 17 July, a joint venture between Starwood Capital Group and Vencom sold six retail parks and shopping galleries to Trophi Fastighets, a company managed by Redito and owned by the Swedish national pension fund AP3. The transaction, which is expected to close in September 2016, is valued at €330 mln.
The properties were acquired by Starwood in November 2013 for its Starwood Distressed Opportunity Fund IX fund as part of a larger seven-asset retail portfolio from Kooperativa Forbundet Fastigheter (KF Fastigheter) for SEK 3.9 bn (€435 mln). Vencom was also the minority local partner in that deal.
