German fund manager Deka Immobilien has acquired a 15,800 m2 multi-let office building in Helsinki from Finnish pension-insurer Ilmarinen. The investment volume of €190 mln makes this the largest single-asset office transaction ever in the Finnish market. 

deka buys toolonlahdenkatu 3 in helsinki from ilmarinen for 190m the largest finnish single asset of

Deka Buys Toolonlahdenkatu 3 in Helsinki From Ilmarinen For 190M the Largest Finnish Single Asset of

The building, Töölönlahti 3, directly adjoins Helsinki's main train station in Töölönlahti, part of the city's central business district (CBD). The LEED Gold Certification property is fully leased, with the Finnish headquarters of accountancy firm KPMG occupying 60% of the leasable area. The other 13 tenants include Barona Group, Electronic Arts and Nokian Tyres.

Deka Immobilien acquired Töölönlahti 3 for its open-ended real estate fund, WestInvest InterSelect, which now owns two assets in Finland. Deka said that the multi-tenant property, completed in 2014, was one of the few modern office buildings with individually divisible rental space in the inner city area of the Finnish capital. 

CBRE advised Deka, while JLL acted as Ilmarinen’s sole commercial advisor in the transaction. Merilampi provided legal advice.

Christian Hohenthal, head of capital markets at JLL Finland, said: 'We are extremely pleased to have been able to facilitate the sale of this ultra-core asset marking the largest transaction ever in the Finnish office segment. The high quality asset attracted significant investor interest from across the globe, underlining the strong momentum in the Finnish market.'

Pension company Etera - which merged into Ilmarinen in January 2018 - began to develop the Töölönlahti area into a modern office area, thereby expanding Helsinki's CBD further to the north of the city. Kenneth Nyman, portfolio manager commercial property investments at Ilmarinen, said: 'After having completed the development and having fully let the property at Töölönlahdenkatu 3, Ilmarinen decided to sell its second holding in the area. We are very pleased that Deka, a reputable international investor, ended up as the new owner and we are sure Deka will further fine-tune the asset. Despite this sizeable sale, Ilmarinen will continue to be an active owner and investor in the Helsinki CBD market.'

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