Doughty Hanson sells 3 Finnish shopping centres for EUR 186m

UK property fund manager Doughty Hanson has sold three shopping centres in Finland to Dutch property investor ING Real Estate Investment Management for EUR 186 mln.

The deal covers the 18,000 m² Kluuvi shopping centre, the 6,800 m² Megahertsi shopping centre, both in Helsinki, and the Stockmann department store, a 22,400 m² shopping mall in the northwestern town of Oulu.

Doughty said the total returns from its Finnish retail portfolio represent a multiple of 3.3 times the fund's equity investment and a gross IRR of 55%.

The properties will be added to ING’s Nordic Property Fund (ING NPF), a semi-open ended balanced fund. The fund was launched in October 2006 and focuses on retail properties in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. With these acquisitions, the ING NPF will expand its existing portfolio to 158 properties and increases its net asset value to EUR 760 mln.

‘The Nordic region has strong projected economic fundamentals together with mature and transparent real estate markets. As a long-term institutional investor, this transaction continues our geographic diversification by adding the first Finnish assets to our portfolio,’ said Peter Helfrich, managing director of ING Real Estate Investment Management Nordics.