Technopolis poised to acquire Finnish business park

Scandinavian listed property group Technopolis is about to acquire the Falcon business park in Otaniemi, Espoo, Finland for a price of around €77.5 mln.

In a statement, Technopolis said it is investigating the possibility to execute the acquisition as a joint venture with a co-investor. The potential JV would comprise Falcon as well as Technopolis’ Innopoli campus in Otaniemi, it added.

The vendor is a fund managed by Aberdeen Asset Management.

The deal is expected to be signed in October and to be closed by the end of December 2013.

Falcon is a modern, multi-user campus located right next to Technopolis Innopoli. It comprises four buildings with a total rentable area of 26,300 m2. The Falcon properties were completed between 2007 and 2011 and the complex has 700 parking spaces of which 500 in an underground parking facility.

The initial yield on the Falcon campus is estimated at 7.4% and the market yield is 7.0%.

As part of the deal, Technopolis will get a three-year rental guarantee on Falcon’s vacant space from the sellers. The guarantee will raise the effective financial occupancy rate to 97% at the point of purchase and will gradually decline during the guarantee period.

Technopolis plans to integrate Falcon and Innopoli into a single 60,800 m2 campus with a shared infrastructure, property management and services.

'The development of Otaniemi, including a new metro connection in 2015 and the expansion of Aalto University, the leading academic campus in Finland, will strengthen Otaniemi’s position as one of the most attractive hot spots in Finland,' the company said in a statement.