AXA Real Estate completes €25m Finnish retail portfolio sale

AXA Real Estate has completed the sale of a retail portfolio in Finland to Sirius Capital Partners for around €25 mln on behalf of one of its funds.

The portfolio comprises 18 retail assets with a total lettable area of 23,920 m2 located across Finland. The properties are mainly grocery stores and range in size from 746 m2 to 2,040 m2. The bulk of the assets are let to Kesko, one of Finland’s leading grocery retailers.

JLL and law firm Roschier advised AXA Real Estate on the sale.

The deal follows the announcement last month that Sirius Capital Partners was teaming up with US-based Accord Group Holdings to invest in mainland Europe.

Under the partnership agreement, Accor’s European affiliate will provide Sirius with co-investment capital and take a minority stake in the firm. Accord Capital Partners will also act as a strategic adviser to Sirius.

Sirius, a management-owned investment manager focusing on opportunistic and value-add real estate investments in Finland, was founded last June by three former Sveafastigheter executives, Patrick Gylling, Jonas Ahlblad and Matti-Pekka Sävelkoski. The company runs the Finnish holdings of Sveafastigheter's €350 mln Fund III.

'Finnish grocery stores is a segment where we have been active before and one that we think is very interesting at the moment,' CEO Patrick Gylling said.

Speaking to PropertyEU, Gylling noted that the partnership does not have a set investment target in mind. 'The relationship with Accord is long-term. They will provide support for the development of our company,' he commented.