ING fund buys prime Helsinki property

ING Real Estate has acquired the Merikortelli building in the centre of Helsinki for EUR 70.5 mln. The mixed-use property - offering both office and retail space - was acquired on behalf of the ING Real Estate Nordic Property Fund. The deal takes the fund's total assets under management to EUR 1 bn.

The Merikortelli building has a lettable area of 24,409 m². Of this, 1,300 m² of retail space was sold by a syndicate comprising Merrill Lynch, O'Connor Capital Partners and Genesta Property Nordic. The building provides office accommodation to media companies and the Finnish National Film Archive. The overall occupancy rate is 87%. Around 3,422 m² of office space is vacant because it is undergoing refurbishment.

ING's semi open-ended Nordic Property fund was launched in October 2006 for institutional investors with a total of EUR 2.5 bn assets under management.

'We are delighted with the acquisition of this prime Helsinki mixed-use property. It is a major asset for ING Real Estate Nordic Property Fund, which has achieved a significant milestone of EUR 1 billion AUM in just over a year,' said Peter Helfrich, fund manager of ING Real Estate Nordic Property Fund and country manager at ING Real Estate Investment Management Nordics.