Doughty Hanson has left the Finnish market with the sale of the Iso Omena shopping centre to Finnish property company Citycon.
Although many observers had expected the centre to go to an international buyer, six months after it was placed on the market Citycon bought the centre for €329m, short of the €350m to €400m that Doughty Hanson was believed to have been looking for. The deal reflected a net initial yield of around 4.5% to 4.6%.
Iso Omena, in the Matinkylä district of Southern Espoo, has a total leasable area of 61,300m2, of which 49,000m2 is retail premises. Citycon CEO Petri Olkinuora said the company intends to redevelop and extend the centre. Citycon also said that the centre has the potential to be extended by 7,000 m2.
Completed in 2001, Iso Omena is Finland’s fifth-largest modern shopping centre with 120 shops and restaurants. Anchor tenants are hypermarkets Citymarket and Prisma, fashion store chains, Hennes & Mauritz, Kappahl and Dressman as well as a Finnkino cinema theatre. The rental value weighted average lease length is more than three years.
Iso Omena is the final asset from a portfolio of eight shopping centres Doughty Hanson bought in 2004 from the Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company in Finland for €350m, which at the time was the biggest cross-border deal in Finnish history.
Earlier this year, Doughty Hanson sold three shopping centres, two in Helsinki and one in Oulu, to ING REIM for €186m.
Doughty Hanson was advised by Leimdörfer.
