The Nordic region’s biggest shopping and entertainment destination is to be created with a €600 mln merger of two sites into a single asset by their owners.
Located in the city of Vantaa, in Finland, the deal combines Jumbo Shopping Centre - which pension insurance firm Elo owns - and Flamingo Entertainment Centre owned by pension insurance company, Varma.
The total lettable area of the properties comprises 140,000 m2, with around 170 tenants. At present, Jumbo Shopping Centre attracts 12 mln visits annually, while Flamingo achieves 4.7 mln visitors per year.
Varma and Elo will share equal stakes in the enlarged real estate under the terms of the deal, they announced. The transaction will not affect the operations and existing agreements of sitting tenants, the parties said.
Ilkka Tomperi, director of real estate investments at Varma, said: ‘Combining holdings in Jumbo and Flamingo brings us advantages which help us to efficiently manage the real estate. The services offered by the properties to customers also support each other well.
‘Joint ownership makes it possible to develop the entity even better to meet consumers’ needs and strengthen the shopping centres’ position in the changing competitive arena of the Helsinki region.’
Welcoming the deal, Timo Stenius, director of unlisted investments at Elo, said: ‘Elo has been involved in developing Jumbo for more than 20 years from a mall located in a remote area on Ring Road III. Today, the shopping centre formed by Jumbo and Flamingo is part of the City of Vantaa’s Aviapolis area development project, attracting residents, entrepreneurs and tourists.
‘In addition, plans have been made to build a tram line that would connect the shopping centre with the nearby residential areas and the Aviapolis area even more closely.’
