CITYCON OYJ Press release 18 June 2015
Citycon has entered into an agreement to sell the Porin Asema-aukio property to the Swedish property company Hemsö on a forward sale basis. The sale covers the new campus of the Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK) that is currently under construction on the Asema-aukio square in Pori.
Citycon is the sole owner and developer of the project and the ownership of the property will be transferred to Hemsö when the construction is completed and the facilities have been delivered to SAMK, which is estimated to take place in May 2017. The sales price for the property of approximately EUR 57 million reflects a premium to the asset’s latest IFRS fair value (including remaining construction costs) in excess of 10%.
The new SAMK campus will be located in the city centre of Pori, next to the railway station. The old office and retail building located on the plot has been partly demolished, and it will be replaced by new buildings that will house SAMK education premises. Citycon was selected as the developer of the campus project in early 2014 in a tendering process organised by the City of Pori, and the construction was started in early 2015.
A total of 14,000 square metres of new leasable space will be constructed and 9,000 square metres will be totally (re)developed. Of the total new 23,000 square metre property, 19,200 square metres will be in SAMK’s use with a lease for 20 years. In addition to SAMK, the current K-supermarket will remain as tenant. The property is fully let. The target is to apply for a BREEAM sustainability certificate for the project.
Hemsö is Sweden´s leading private owner of properties for community services. The business is based on owning, managing and developing properties for residences for the elderly, education, care facilities and premises for the legal sector. Hemsö has properties in Sweden, Germany and Finland.
“This development project involved changing the existing use of the Asema-aukio square from a predominantly retail property with large vacancies to fully let educational premises. Thus, the long-term ownership of the property is not within the scope of Citycon’s core strategy. Hemsö, on the other hand, specializes in owning and managing properties of this type. After value creation for our shareholders, we are pleased to sell the property to such a long-term owner which will be beneficial partner to SAMK,” Nils Styf, Chief Investment Officer at Citycon says.
This divestment is in line with Citycon’s strategy to focus on urban, grocery-anchored shopping centres in the Nordics and Baltics and to divest its non-core portfolio of smaller retail assets, non-coreshopping centres and non-retail properties. Citycon will continue to execute its divestment strategy.
Styf points out that Citycon will be responsible for the construction until the campus is completed and delivered to SAMK, hence, the project will continue as previously from the tenant’s perspective.
Helsinki 18 June 2015
CITYCON OYJ
Additional information:
Nils Styf, Chief Investment Officer Telephone +46 733 50 60 39 nils.styf@citycon.com
Henrica Ginström, Vice President, IR and Communications Telephone +358 50 554 4296 henrica.ginstrom@citycon.com
Citycon Oyj (Nasdaq Helsinki: CTY1S) is a leading owner, developer and manager of urban grocery-anchored shopping centres in the Nordic and Baltic regions. The company manages assets that total approximately EUR 3.4 billion and its shares have a market value of approximately EUR 1.8 billion. For more information about Citycon, please visit www.citycon.com
