Solnaberg Property, a new company established by Catella, has acquired an office property in Stockholm for SEK 858 mln (€89 mln).
CapMan Nordic Real Estate was the vendor of Bergshamra Bro, a 31,325 m2 office building spanning over and alongside the E18 road in Solna, northern Sotockholm. The property consists of four interconnecting office buildings and its main tenant is 'if' P&C insurance.
CapMan invested in Bergshamra Bro in 2014 and this transaction is the fifth exit by the fund. The focus of the €273 mln fund is to acquire mainly office, retail and residential properties located in established submarkets of major Nordic cities. The fund was established in 2013.
'We are very happy to have reached our objective of introducing new long term tenants to the property alongside "if" in order to create full occupancy and a more institutional product. In addition, we are retaining a large piece of land with surface parking on which we are currently working on changing the zoning plan to develop some building rights,' comments Ed Williams, senior partner at CapMan Real Estate.
Torbjörn Wiberg has been appointed as CEO of Solnaberg Property, which will eventually be listed on Nasdaq First North in Stockholm. Solnaberg is the latest company established by Catella to allow its clients to access stabilised real estate with long-term cash flow, while enabling corporates and investment vehicles to monetise bricks and mortar assets.
Some 275 clients of Catella Bank and its partner subscribed for shares in Solnaberg Property. Catella's corporate finance department acted as financial advisor in the transaction and, in cooperation with Catella Bank, conducted a capital raising of SEK 376 mln and arranged financing of the acquisition. Martin Malhotra was responsible for implementing and steering the project on behalf of Catella.
'It is extremely gratifying to see how our strategy is being put into practice through close cooperation between our advisory activities in property and our wealth management advisory services within Catella Bank. There is large demand among our clients for investments in high-quality real estate projects. The transaction represents yet another example of how we work to create business opportunities for corporate finance clients and opportunities for alternative returns for our wealth management clients,' said Robert Fonovich, head of Catella’s corporate finance operations in Sweden, and Tord Topsholm, managing director of Catella Bank, in a joint statement on the deal.
