Niam Fund III completes a significant transaction

Niam Fund III together with Crown Asset Management has today signed agreements concerning one of the largest-ever property transactions in Finland. The joint company Niam Retail Holding Finland AB has acquired a property portfolio comprising 92 properties from the Finnish trading company Kesko and Kesko Pension Fund. The properties are located throughout the country.

Niam Fund III together with Crown Asset Management has today acquired 92 retail properties with a combined area of 191,000 m2 from Kesko and Kesko Pension Fund. The portfolio comprises retail properties leased to Kesko’s trading divisions. The properties are located throughout Finland.

“We see this transaction as the first building block in a major retail portfolio in Finland, which we will build up in partnership with Crown,” comments Per Johannesson, Managing Partner at Niam. “We already have a successful partnership in Sweden and we plan to expand this partnership throughout the Nordic and Baltic region.”

Crown, which has great experience of managing and structuring major property holdings, will act as Asset Manager for the properties. Crown’s previous operations include driving the creation of the Swedish property companies Amplion and Crown Fastigheter.

“It is exciting to be entering the retail market in Finland at this time and we are looking forward to working with Kesko,” says Bo Sandberg of Crown Asset Management. “We already have long experience of this market segment in Sweden and see great opportunities to take advantage of this knowledge in developing the portfolio together with Kesko.”

Advisors to the purchasers were Newsec and Castrén & Snellman.

Niam Fund III already owns properties in Finland valued at around EUR 100 million and intends to invest at least EUR 500 million in Finland.