Nordika steps into Finland with the acquisition of four retail properties from PG Scandinavian Invest (Former Property Group)
Nordika is now establishing a Finnish platform and will look for more opportunities in the commercial real estate segment. Three of the assets are located in Vaasa, and one is in Rovaniemi.
The portfolio comprises 15,000 sqm of high-quality retail space in solid out-of-town retail locations, including the GW Galleria in Vaasa. The assets have a diversified tenant mix of well-known retail brands, including H&M, Lindex, Fiskars, Isku, Kapp Ahl, and Byggmax. All assets were built to high standards by the Danish developer Sjaelsö¸ Group in 2008-2010.
The portfolio was originally sold to Danish investor Property Group, which went into liquidation during the financial crisis. As a consequence of Property Group’s liquidation, Sjaelsö¸ Group then initiated a sale of all the assets in Finland together with another Property Group portfolio in Sweden. However, during the sales process, Sjaelsö¸ Group itself also went into bankruptcy; hence, the senior lender controlled the process. The portfolio has lacked active management, given the financial problems of the previous owners.
Nordika’s priority is to stabilize the portfolio and be an active owner. Long term, there are several value add opportunities, including improving the tenant mix, active marketing, and several add-on development opportunities on existing and neighboring land plots.
Jonas Grandér, Nordika’s CEO comments:
We are glad to finally have completed a long and complicated acquisition process taking well over two years from start to finish. The portfolio has clearly lacked active management and has suffered from the aftermaths of the financial crisis and highly levered inactive owners. The assets and the micro locations are solid and we very much look forward to actively focus on improving the assets. This will be a significant change for the retail location and the tenants. Longer term we are looking to build on our Finnish platform with focus on the commercial real estate segments.
Roshier Law Firm was assisting Nordika, while Wistrand Law Firm together with Sjaelsö¸ Management, assisted the seller.
