The CapMan Real Estate I private equity fund has purchased a property in Helsinki days after announcing the sale of its existing portfolio to a joint venture company for EUR 377.5 mln. The property and lot at Kalevantu 20 in Helsinki was acquired from the Local Government Pensions Institution. The financial details were not disclosed.

The CapMan Real Estate I private equity fund has purchased a property in Helsinki days after announcing the sale of its existing portfolio to a joint venture company for EUR 377.5 mln. The property and lot at Kalevantu 20 in Helsinki was acquired from the Local Government Pensions Institution. The financial details were not disclosed.

Kalevankatu 20 is located in the Kamppi district of central Helsinki. It was built in 1968 as an office building and it comprises about 3,500 m2 of lettable space. 'We believe that the property, which we will renovate taking the needs of future tenants into consideration, will have a high occupancy rate. As the property is vacant at the time of investment we can start development work very quickly', said Pekka Salakka, director of real estate investments at CapMan.

The Finish private equity manager established CapMan Real Estate I in June 2005 with an investment capacity of EUR 500 mln. On December 20 last year, CapMan announced the fund's portfolio of 22 office properties in the greater Helsinki area was being sold to Samson Properties, a joint venture company active in the real estate markets in western, central and eastern Europe.

Ajanta, a Finnish private investment company, and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have minority stakes in Damson. RBS, the third largest bank in Europe by market capitalisation, is also providing the financing for the deal.

CapMan Real Estate II fund was established in September 2006. Both funds are to continue their active investment operations, CapMan said.