Aberdeen Property Investors has acquired a mixed-use property in the southern tip of Sweden in the latest of a series of significant moves in Scandinavia. The office and retail asset at Kometen 9 in Kristianstad was built in 1989 and provides 15,000 m[sup]2[/sup] of lettable area. The tenants include ICA Maxi and TMR Nautilus.
Aberdeen Property Investors has acquired a mixed-use property in the southern tip of Sweden in the latest of a series of significant moves in Scandinavia. The office and retail asset at Kometen 9 in Kristianstad was built in 1989 and provides 15,000 m2 of lettable area. The tenants include ICA Maxi and TMR Nautilus.
The property was sold by a group of five families. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, but the initial yield was about 5.3%.
In mid January, Aberdeen announced the launch of a new property fund, the Aberdeen Real Estate Fund Finland (AREFF). The closed-ended fund has been customised for three institutional investors, Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company Finland, Dutch pension fund ABP and ATP Real Estate of Denmark, who all invested equal amounts of capital to the fund.
The fund acquired about EUR 280 mln property portfolio consisting of 47 commercial properties, mainly offices, from Ilmarinen on January 3. The properties are located in Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Oulu and Vaasa.
The transaction allowed Ilmarinen to relocate a substantial portion of its property from direct to indirect ownership in Finland. Aberdeen said AREFF will continue to look for further properties with potential to generate high returns. The fund's target size is EUR 500 mln.
Together with the investment bank SEB Enskilda, Aberdeen announced the establishment on January 11 of a major property development company in the Scandinavian market, Scandinavian Property Development.
The company will be open for investment from both domestic and international institutional investors. It made its first investment in the principal development projects in housing and commercial property at Fornebu, the former Oslo airport, for around EUR 600 mln. The contract covers over 500,000 m2 of building rights and involves six companies that are developing housing and commercial property in the area. Closing of the transaction is expected before the end of February.
