Catella Property Group acted as exclusive transaction advisor in Evli real estate equity fund's EPI (Evli Property Investments) acquisition of the Kellerman Centre, an office building located in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The acquired business center is located in central St. Petersburg and offers class A office premises totalling 20,000 m² as well as substantial development potential. An extension of 6,000 m² is currently under construction, to be completed in the late fall of this year and an additional 40,000 m² of office premises can be constructed on the land plot.
The sellers of the property are Scandinavian Manufacturing ApS, Swedfund, East Capital Amber Fund and a number of private investors. The value of the investment is expected to total €150 million after the development potential in the property is realized.
"This transaction was relatively complicated given the ownership structure however Catella holds strong relationships with all of the Scandinavian investors in the Kellermann Centre. We knew that the majority shareholder and partners would want to develop the project out further based on its initial success and advised them that rather than taking the project out to the market we would introduce the acquisition opportunity to who we perceived to be the correct purchaser directly and this proved to be the correct strategy," says Andrew Brent Smith at Catella Property Group.
"The site is superbly located and boasts highly functional connections to both the airport and the city center via the St. Petersburg metro system. Furthermore, the property attractively combines an optimally steady cash flow and substantial development potential, in accordance with the fund's investment strategy," says Petteri Nurminen, Managing Director of Evli Property Investments Ltd.
Established in June 2006, EPI Russia I is Finland's first real estate equity fund investing exclusively in Russia, and one of the few mutual funds in the world that focuses only on the Russian real estate market. The fund's investment strategy is to acquire and develop commercial properties in the St. Petersburg and Moscow regions. The fund aims to establish a real estate portfolio of approx. €350-400 million.
Source: Catella
