Citycon has signed an agreement with funds managed by Doughty Hanson on the acquisition of Iso Omena, one of the largest shopping centers in Finland, located in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The transaction volume amounts to approximately €329 million. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of September.
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Iso Omena shopping center.
Completed in 2001, Iso Omena is Finland's fifth largest modern shopping center. Its gross leasable area is 61,300 m², of which 49,000 m² are retail premises. In addition, the shopping center has the potential to be further expanded by 7,000 m². Iso Omena provides a broad range of services and accommodates over 120 stores and restaurants. The center's anchor tenants are the hypermarkets Citymarket and Prisma, the fashion store chains Hennes & Mauritz, Kappahl and Dressman as well as a Finnkino cinema theater. Grocery sales account for over 60% of the shopping center's total sales. The rental value weighted average lease length is over three years.
Iso Omena is situated in the Matinkylä district of Southern Espoo, approximately 13 kilometers west of downtown Helsinki, next to the Länsiväylä highway and the Kehä II ringroad junction. The shopping center's excellent traffic connections will be further improved by the underground to be built in Espoo, the planned location of the Matinkylä underground station being right next to the shopping center. Nearly 150,000 customers live in the shopping center's catchment area.
Following the acquisition, Iso Omena will be Citycon's largest shopping center, substantially strengthening the company's leading position in the shopping center sector in Finland, and in particular its market position in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, where it will own eight shopping centers.
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Inside the Iso Omena shopping center.
Commenting, Petri Olkinuora, CEO of Citycon, said, "This is a strategic investment in a first-class shopping center in the affluent western part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, where Citycon already owns several retail properties. The acquisition provides us with a unique opportunity to increase our market share in the growing retail sector of the Helsinki region. As a committed, long-term shopping center owner, developer and operator, we will continue actively to redevelop and extend Iso Omena. This center, under our management and after two to three years' development phase, will enhance the synergetic and qualitative dimensions of Citycon's shoppin
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