Blackstone has agreed a deal to buy Finnish real estate investment company Sponda for €1.8bn (£1.57bn).
The cash offer of €5 (£4.37) per share represents a premium of 20.7% to Sponda’s last closing price. Sponda’s properties include office and retail assets in Finland’s largest cities and the company was last valued at €3.8bn (£3.3bn) in March this year.
The majority of Sponda’s shareholders, which include HC Fastigheter Holding Oy Ab, Finnish pension fund Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company and Sponda’s president and chief executive Kari Inkinen, together representing approximately 46.9% of the shares, have accepted the offer.
James Seppala, Blackstone’s head of European real estate acquisitions, said: “Our proposed acquisition represents another step in Blackstone’s long-standing strategy of investing in high-quality real estate assets and businesses across the Nordic region. We are excited about this opportunity to invest in the commercial real estate market in Finland and are delighted with the strong support that our offer has received from Sponda’s board, management and leading shareholders.”
Inkinen said: “With the support of Blackstone we will further develop our business, our properties and our portfolio. We will continue to offer high-quality business premises and working environments to our customers.”
Sponda was founded by the Bank of Finland during the country’s banking crisis in 1991 when it took over assets from SKOP bank.
Goldman Sachs and Nordea advised Blackstone and UBS advised Sponda on the deal.
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