CITYCON OYJ Stock Exchange Release 14 August 2007 at 11.30
Citycon will
acquire Iso Omena, one of the largest shopping centres
in Finland, located in
the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The company
signed today an agreement with
funds managed by Doughty Hanson on the
acquisition of the shopping centre for
approximately EUR 329 million.
The transaction is expected to be completed by
the end of September.
Following the acquisition, Iso Omena will be Citycon's
largest
shopping centre, substantially strengthening the company's
leading
position in the shopping centre sector in Finland, and in
particular
its market position in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, where it
will
own eight shopping centres."This is a strategic investment in a
first-class shopping centre 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 centre owner, developer and operator, we will
continue actively to
redevelop and extend Iso Omena. This centre,
under our management and after two
to three years' development phase,
will enhance the synergetic and qualitative
dimensions of Citycon's
shopping centre portfolio. The acquisition will be
financed with both
existing lines of credit and new financing arrangements. Iso
Omena
enjoys an excellent strategic location both today and in the
future,"
said CEO Petri Olkinuora.
Completed in 2001, Iso Omena is Finland's
fifth largest modern
shopping centre. Its gross leasable area is 61,300 square
metres, of
which 49,000 square meters are retail premises. In addition,
the
shopping centre has the potential to be further expanded by 7,000
square
metres. Iso Omena provides a broad range of services and
accommodates over 120
stores and restaurants. The centre's anchor
tenants are the hypermarkets
Citymarket and Prisma, the fashion store
chains Hennes & Mauritz, Kappahl and
Dressman as well as a Finnkino
cinema theatre. Grocery sales account for over
60 per cent of the
shopping centre's total sales. The rental value weighted
average
lease length is over three
years.
+------------------------------------------------------------+
|
Summary |
|
|-------------------------------------------------+----------|
| Leasable
area, m2 | 61,300
|
|-------------------------------------------------+----------|
| Of which
retail premises, m2 | 49,000
|
|-------------------------------------------------+----------|
| Unexercised
building right, m2 (approx.) | 7,000
|
|-------------------------------------------------+----------|
| Total sales
for 2006, EUR million | 195
|
|-------------------------------------------------+----------|
| No. of
visitors in 2006, million | 8.4
|
|-------------------------------------------------+----------|
| Number of
stores and restaurants | Over 120
|
|-------------------------------------------------+----------|
| Number of
parking places (of which 86% indoors) | 2,200
|
+------------------------------------------------------------+
Iso Omena is
situated in the Matinkylä district of Southern Espoo,
approximately 13
kilometres west of downtown Helsinki, next to the
Länsiväylä highway and the
Kehä II ringroad junction. The shopping
centre'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
centre. Nearly 150,000 customers live in the shopping
centre's
catchment area.
Following the acquisition, Citycon will own a total
of 32 shopping
centres in Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Lithuania, with a
gross
leasable area of approximately 660 000 square metres.
Helsinki, 14
August 2007
CITYCON OYJ
Board of Directors
For further information, please
contact:
Petri Olkinuora, CEO
Mobile +358 400 333 256
Kaisa Vuorio, Vice
President, Finnish Operations
Mobile +358 500 667 227
Distribution:
Helsinki
Stock Exchange
Major media
www.citycon.fi
|