Madison International Realty (Madison), a New York based investment company, has completed the acquisition of a NOK 392 million (approx. 52.5 million.) interest in the Statoil complex in Oslo, Norway. Agreed in December 2012, the transaction represents the second largest single asset transaction in the Norwegian market in 2012.
The nine storey, 65,768 m² Class A 'headquarter style' office building including 846 parking spaces is located in the Fornebu sub-market of Oslo, Norway. The property is 100% and long-term (15 years) leased to Statoil ASA (S&P: AA-). Developed by the internationally renowned architects, a-lab, the project won the "Future projects - Commercial" category prize at the World Architecture Festival in 2009 as well as the "Commercial Sector" category prize at the World Architecture News Awards in December 2012. As of October 2012, the property is fully occupied by the tenant and is in full operation.
Oslo is one of the fastest growing and wealthiest major cities in Western Europe, and the Fornebu sub-market is the established corporate headquarter location in Oslo attracting domestic and international companies such as Accenture, Telenor, Aker Solutions, Norwegian Airshuttle, Evry, Alcatel and Hewlett Packard.
Prior to the current transaction the Statoil complex was owned wholly by IT Fornebu (ITF), a Norwegian Public Limited Company established in 1997. Today the Company holds yielding and development properties located at Fornebu. ITF will now be joined by Madison, an experienced investor specializing in joint ventures. In its focus of acquiring direct secondary equity interests, Madison will be supported by other Local Norwegian investors, which also participate in the transaction. In its focus on acquiring secondary equity capital in real estate, Madison's investment strategy is heavily quality-driven with investments into core properties.
The club deal was arranged by Arctic Securities ASA (Arctic). Arctic is the leading investment bank in the Norwegian marketplace, and among others offers a full range of services within the Nordic real estate market. Arctic obtained exclusivity as buy side advisor from ITF in the beginning of December 2012, and raised the equity as well as an attractive bond financing in order to sign an unconditional SPA before year end 2012.
"Madison is an ideal partner for owners and developers seeking to monetize equity embedded in their assets," explains Derek Jacobson, Managing Director at Madison International Realty in New York. "As real estate fundamentals in core markets continue to improve, owners, especially developers seek creative ways to extract capital from their existing portfolios in order to pursue other opportunities."
"This investment opportunity ticks all the boxes for a core investment oriented investor like Madison, and we highly welcome them into the Nordic region", says Mads H. Syversen, CEO of Arctic Securities ASA.
As of today, Madison has raised over US $1.3 billion (approx. 1 billion) of equity since it was founded by Ronald M. Dickerman in 2002. With offices in New York, Frankfurt and London, the firm has become one of the most active acquirers of interests in real estate ventures.
Source: Madison
