NREP to pay €106m for food-anchored Helsinki centre
Helsinki-listed property company Citycon has agreed the sale of the city’s necessity-based retail centre Columbus to Nordic real estate investor, NREP for €106.2 million.
The centre, which has a sales area of about 20,400 sq m has 50 stores and is located in the Vuosaari district of Helsinki which is currently undergoing expansion from 40,000 to 60,000 people.
The centre’s annual sales figure is about €89 million and it receives about 66 million visitor. About 65% of the centre’s leasable area is occupied by grocery retail.
The price that NREP is paying corresponds to the Q3, 2021 valuation, but is approximately €10 milion above the Q4, 2020 valuation, Citycon said in a statement. The deal is expected to close during the last quarter of this year.
“Columbus demonstrates Citycon´s ability to create additional value through active asset management at every stage of the property life cycle,” said Citycon CEO F Scott Ball. “During Citycon´s ownership, Columbus has been transformed to a grocery-anchored urban hub, which has also been reflected in its increase in value.”
Ball said that as Citycon’s shares currently trade at a discount to EPRA NRV the company may use some of the proceeds of the Colombus sale to buy back some of its own shares.
Citycon´s advisor in the transaction was MREC Oy.
