Citycon bets on Baltic rebound

Citycon has the potential and the appetite to double its portfolio in the next four-to-five years, newly appointed chief executive Marcel Kokkeel has said in an interview with PropertyEU.

Having taken command of Finland's second largest listed property company in March, Kokkeel plans to grow Citycon's EUR 2.5 bn portfolio through both internal growth and new acquisitions. 'This is a good vision,' Kokkeel said. 'It energises a company to say that you want to grow not by 5% or 10%, but double the size. And it's not important whether we end up with a EUR 4 bn or a EUR 6 bn portfolio, but that we talk about ambition and growth.'

The company will seek to accelerate income in its existing properties while looking aggressively for new acquisitions, at both an asset and portfolio level, Kokkeel added, noting that he would also be in favour of opening the company's share capital to new investors in exchange for assets. 'We intend to create a more balanced portfolio in the Northern European countries, where Finland currently represents two-thirds of our business.'

Citycon owns 34 shopping centres, of which 22 are in Finland, where the company has a 22.7% market share.

Kokkeel, who is expected to come with a strategy update in the next two months, intends to increase Citycon's focus on the retail sector and actively seek expansion in Sweden and the Baltic cities, while keeping an eye out for opportunities in Norway and Denmark.

'We are most interested in large trophy assets in capital cities,' the 52-year-old executive said. 'Stockholm ranks high on our acquisition list, although investments come at a price in this market, due to strong competition from local pension funds. We are also looking for a second major mall in Finland's capital region, alongside our Iso Omena in Espoo.'

The full interview appears in the June issue of PropertyEU. Please click on the link below to subscribe