Swedish private equity firm Niam has set up an office in Helsinki to reinforce its presence in Finland. The company has appointed Pekka Salakka, who had previously been responsible for investments at CapMan Real Estate, to run the business. Salakka, who will officially become managing director of Niam Finland on September 1st, said that his first task will be to build the Niam organisation in Finlnd, and to strengthen the company's position as one of the leading players in the Finnish real estate business.
Swedish private equity firm Niam has set up an office in Helsinki to reinforce its presence in Finland. The company has appointed Pekka Salakka, who had previously been responsible for investments at CapMan Real Estate, to run the business. Salakka, who will officially become managing director of Niam Finland on September 1st, said that his first task will be to build the Niam organisation in Finlnd, and to strengthen the company's position as one of the leading players in the Finnish real estate business.
Niam has been active in Finland since 2004, when it acquired the first part of an office portfolio from NCC. Earlier this month we reported that it had sold this portfolio to Acta Kapitalförsäkring for EUR 125 mln. Early in 2006 it acquired a portfolio of 92 assets from the Finnish trading company Kesko in what was one of the largest property transactions ever in Finland. In March this year a portfolio totalling about EUR 400 mln was acquired from the Finnish property company Sponda in a joint venture with Goldman Sachs' Whitehall Real Estate Funds. Niam currently has about EUR 700 mln of assets under management in Finland. Across Northern Europe, Niam's funds own properties valued at EUR 1.6 bn.
