Genesta, a Nordic investment and fund manager, has acquired a 11,200 m2 office building in Helsinki from a fund managed by JP Morgan Asset Management.
The investment volume for the transaction was not disclosed. Genesta carried out the acquisition of Hämeentie 11, located in the Sörnainen area of the Finnish capital, for its GNRE Fund II. The building was designed by Väinö Vähäkallio and was completed in 1927 as the headquarters for Elanto.
The property's main tenant, the Educational Department of the City of Helsinki, vacated the property in December 2016. The property will now be comprehensively refurbished before being leased out again. 'Hämeentie 11 suits our investment strategy very well and we are looking forward to developing it during the coming years. We hope to harness the unique architecture and history of the property and create something truly unique for the Finnish office market,' said Genesta CEO David Neil.
This is the fifth acquisition by GNRE Fund II. The fund's strategy is to provide institutional investors with access to value-add office property investments in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Oslo. The fund also invests in retail and logistics properties in large metropolitan areas in the Nordic region. The fund has €373 mln of committed capital from twelve institutional investors.
