Valad Europe and Goldman Sachs have acquired the Omega portfolio comprising 22 properties in Finland for an undisclosed sum.
Valad, the European arm of Australian REIT Cromwell Property Group, will assume responsibility for the on-going asset management of the portfolio, which comprises a mix of offices, industrial and retail assets.
'With a mix of high quality office buildings such as Kaisaniemenkatu 13 and Stella Terra, part of the Stella Business Park in Leppävaara, and properties with potential for value-adding activities, the Omega portfolio provides opportunities for us to use our local knowledge to create significant value through a variety of strategies,' commented Tomas Beck, head of Nordics. 'These include leasing, re-zoning for residential use and the creation of sub-portfolios of institutional grade investment properties that will attract a wider group of investors.'
The portfolio represents a total of 109,000 m2 of space across 13 office buildings, five industrial buildings and four buildings with primarily retail uses. More than 80% of the value of the portfolio is located in the HMA region, which includes the cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa.
The most prominent building in the portfolio is the Kaisanimenkatu 13 office building (pictured), a refurbished, historical building on the fringe of Helsinki's CBD, occupied by Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) amongst others. In aggregate, the buildings in the portfolio are currently let to more than 200 tenants, including Mehiläinen, S-Group, St1, Cisco and LähiTapiola.
'The Cromwell business in Europe has an extensive platform which our clients are utilising to access quality real estate transactions,' commented David Kirkby, CEO Europe. 'This latest trade highlights how one of our private equity clients has benefitted from our extensive European platform to access good quality deals in a new geographic area.'
Valad Europe currently manages just under €4 bn of real estate assets and investments across its funds and mandates in Europe, comprising approximately 338 assets and 3,400 tenants.
JLL acted as sell side advisor in the transaction.
