Catella enters property investment management in Norway and mezzanine fund management in Luxembourg through an initiative in partnership with Jarle Norman-Hansen and Bjarte Solheim, both with extensive experience from the property investment markets of Norway and the Nordics.
“Catella has a very strong Nordic and Continental European platform within both property investment management, with EUR 3.2 billion under management, and real estate corporate finance. We have most recently launched a residential funds operation in Germany, established Catella in Spain, and we continue to develop our successful operations in Finland, France, Denmark, Iberia and Luxembourg. The establishment in Norway is a natural next step in our expansion. Norway is a big and well-functioning market where we believe we can bring value to our future clients. In 2016, we will also build a corporate finance business in Norway to offer both local transaction capacity and access to our European corporate finance business,” says Knut Pedersen, president and CEO at Catella.
Jarle Norman-Hansen and Bjarte Solheim have been involved in multiple Nordic real estate transactions as advisors, managers or owners. They have made more than SEK 50 billion in real estate equity, mezzanine and debt investments combined.
“Catella will gain access to a management team with extensive, relevant investment experience across diverse property types, geographies and stages of the economic cycle. They have a wide network of local investors, lenders and advisors across the Nordics. Additionally, Catella will obtain access to a real estate fund set-up and related mezzanine financing platform based in Luxembourg,” says Timo Nurminen, Head of Property Investment Management at Catella.
Catella will form a new partnership company with Norman-Hansen and Solheim, which will acquire their existing platforms, Ambolt Advisors S.a.r.l. and Elementum Asset Management AS. The new enterprise will focus on property investment and asset management on behalf of Norwegian and international investors and managing of mezzanine debt funds. The operations will start in the beginning of 2016.
