Niam acquires 41 Swedish properties for EUR 750mln

Niam, the Stockholm-based private equity property group, has acquired 41 properties in Sweden from real estate firm AF Fastigheter for EUR 750mln. The majority of the portfolio consists of properties obtained by AP Fastigheter in its recent acquisition of Swedish state-owned property company Vasakronan.

Niam said it had worked together with AP Fastigheter on the Vasakronan acquisition since it was put on the market. Niam was one of the parties who was initially asked to bid for Vasakronan. Ultimately, AF Fastigheter, which is owned by Swedish national pension funds, purchased Vasakronan for EUR 4.3bn in July this year.

The portfolio bought by Niam is divided across Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Lund and Uppsala. About 90% of the portfolio by value is located in the first three cities.

'We are obviously delighted that our partnership with AP Fastigheter was successful,' commented Johan Bergman, managing director of Niam. 'We believe we will get a well-balanced portfolio in the five strongest performing real estate markets in Sweden.'

Following the acquisition, Niam's funds will have EUR 1.9bn of real estate under management in Sweden, Finland and Latvia. The closing will take place on 1 October 2008.