Oppenheim buys EUR 54.5m Skanska portfolio

German property investment company Oppenheim Immobilien is acquiring five properties in the Swedish cities of Gothenburg, Molndal, Malmo and Lund from Skanska for SEK 500 mln (EUR 54.5 mln). Skanska said the deal will result in a capital gain of SEK 184 mln (EUR 20.7 mln).

The agreement between Swedish construction giant Skanska and Oppenheim Immobilien, owned by the IVG Group, is for retail properties that comprise a total of about 24,300 square meters and all are fully leased. Two of the properties are still under construction, with completion scheduled for summer 2007.

The transaction includes a subsequent sale of a property sold previously to RBS Nordisk Renting in accordance with a profit-sharing agreement between Skanska and RBS Nordisk Renting. This property, Jellinge 1 in Malmö, was completed in 2005. The four other properties included in the transaction are Medlingen 3 in Lund, Generatorn 11 and Eklanda 1:107 in Molndal and Backa 23:2 in Hisings Backa.

'Long-term leases are signed for all the properties. We are seeing high demand from tenants as well as from investors today and, accordingly, we are continuing to focus on developing new projects, said Cecilia Fasth,' president of Skanska Fastigheter Goteborg. This is Oppenheim's sixth acquisition in Sweden and prior to this the company owned about 130,000 m2, mainly commercial properties.