Catella advises on EUR 170m sale in Sweden

Catella Corporate Finance has advised Swedish listed real estate firm Catena on the sale of the majority of its car showroom portfolio in Sweden for SEK 1.5 bn (EUR 170 mln). The buyer of the 25 assets is Stockholm-listed property company Balder Fjorton. Shareholders of both Catena and Balder voted in favour of the transaction in January.

Last year Catena decided to change its focus and divest its portfolio, except for Solna Hagalund 2:2 and Solna Stora Frösunda 2. 'Despite the recent financial turbulence, the property market and price level of properties in regions that are strategically attractive for the company have remained stable and continued to develop positively. Accordingly, the board assesses that conditions for a possible sale of parts of the portfolio may currently be favorable,' Catena said at the time.

Catena traces its roots back to 1967 when Volvo established AB Volvator as part of efforts to restructure its sales network. The company changed its name to Catena when it listed in 1984 and Volvo reduced its ownership stake to 40%. During the subsequent ten years, there was an expansion into new areas of operations such as finance, real estate and trading.

At end-September 2010, the real estate portfolio comprised 27 properties with a total rentable space of about 193,000 m² and a book value of just under SEK 2 bn. The premises located in the Stockholm, Gothenburg and Öresund regions are used primarily for car sales. Swedish car chain Bilia is the largest tenant and accounted for about 82.3% of rental revenue in 2010.