Standard Life acquires retail warehouses in Sweden

Standard Life Investments (SLI) announced on Friday that it has completed the purchase of three prime retail warehouses at Kungens Kurva, Sweden on behalf of its European Property Growth Fund (EPGF). Kungens Kurva is an out-of-town retail warehouse park located just 15 minutes drive from central Stockholm. The park has 50 large retail warehouses - including the world's largest Ikea, with total retails sales space of 250,000 m². All three properties were purchased from the Proark Group, a Scandinavian property company. The financial details of the transaction were not been disclosed.

The properties provide some 8,800 m² of net retail let to eight tenants including H&M, Stadium Sport and other leading fashion, electronic and home furnishing national retailers. In June, EPGF made its first acquisition in Sweden with the purchase of four retail warehouse units in Gavle, north of Stockholm, and eight retail warehouse units located in Vasteras, west of Stockholm. Will Fulton, manager of the fund, said: 'We view the Swedish retail market very positively and therefore it's encouraging that we've managed to increase our exposure so soon after making our first Swedish purchases in June of this year.'

The fund, which returned 22% for the year to June 2007, is a closed-ended fund with a target size of EUR 900 mln. The current value of the fund stands at EUR 700 mln. The objective of the fund is to invest in a high-quality diversified portfolio of commercial properties across Europe, with a focus on mature, developed Eurozone markets.