Swedish real estate company Castellum has purchased a portfolio of five office properties in Helsinki for €150 mln via a company acquisition.
The deal sees Castellum acquire Finnish real estate group Lindström Invest from its owners, through a partial share issue.
The portfolio comprises five office properties with a total lettable area of approximately 36,000 m2. Of the acquisition price of €150 mln, including overheads of €7 mln, €81 mln is paid as a share issue in kind and the remaining consists of takeover of debt.
All properties are well located in Kalasatama, a former port area that the City of Helsinki is now developing into a district intended for 25,000 new residents and 10,000 new jobs. Kalasatama is located 2 km northeast of Helsinki CBD, which can be reached in six minutes by metro from Kalasatama. The buildings contain high-quality office space and a conference centre.
Henrik Saxborn, CEO of Castellum, said: 'It feels very good to increase our presence in Helsinki with this deal. As a major player in the commercial real estate market, we see a growing interest in development in all of the Nordic region's major cities.
'Kalasatama has great potential to become a truly dynamic area. By taking a place there, we are significantly strengthening our position in Helsinki, where we also intend to expand further. Initially, the deal does not have a visible impact on management results and net asset value SEK/share, but we expect it to contribute to increasing Castellum's long-term growth.'
The transaction is carried out as a share issue in kind, meaning that the sellers contribute all shares in Lindström Invest Oy in exchange for receiving 4,061,745 newly issued shares in Castellum at a subscription price of SEK 203.64 (€19.90) per share, corresponding to a total value of approximately SEK 827 million.
The subscription price was determined by calculating the volume-weighted average price for the Castellum share on Nasdaq Stockholm during the ten trading days immediately preceding the day of the transaction. The share issue in kind entails a dilution for existing shareholders of 1.5%.
