Citycon divests non-core properties in Finland to Cerberus Capital Management for EUR 167 million
CITYCON OYJ Investor News 24 August 2017 at 17.05 hrs
Citycon Finland Oy (“Citycon”) and Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. (“Cerberus”) announced today that they have signed an agreement whereby Citycon will divest its shopping centres Espoontori, Tikkuri, Myllypuron Ostari, Martinlaakson Ostari and Jyväskylän Forum to an affiliate of Cerberus, one of the world’s leading private investment firms, for a total value of approximately EUR 167 million. The sales price is close to the latest IFRS fair value of the assets and the price will be adjusted according to the contract terms in connection with closing of the transaction, which is expected to take place in November.
Four of the shopping centres are located in the Helsinki area and one in Jyväskylä. In total, the centres comprise approximately 61,000 sq.m. of gross leasable area.
“This transaction is a natural step to refine our Nordic portfolio and to focus on larger grocery-anchored shopping centres in urban crosspoints. We will use the proceeds to fund our development pipeline and strengthen the balance sheet,” says Marcel Kokkeel, Chief Executive Officer at Citycon.
Citycon’s outlook for 2017 regarding Direct operating profit, EPRA Earnings and EPRA EPS (basic) announced on 13 July 2017 will remain unchanged.
“In addition to being the largest investor in European real estate loans, Cerberus has directly invested more than EUR 5 billion in real estate properties across Europe,” says Lee Millstein, Global Head of Real Estate for Cerberus. “We are excited to expand our direct European real estate investing into the Finnish market with this acquisition. These multi-purpose properties in key, convenient areas, can serve as anchor properties for further development, and are well-positioned to benefit from solid growth in Finnish retail trade sales.”
JLL has acted as Citycon’s advisor in the transaction.
CITYCON OYJ
For further information, please contact:
Marcel Kokkeel
Chief Executive Officer, Citycon
Tel. +358 40 154 6760
marcel.kokkeel@citycon.com
Liz Micci or Andrew Johnson, Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.
Tel. +646-495-2700
lmicci@gpg.com or ajohnson@gpg.com
About Citycon Oyj
Citycon Oyj (Nasdaq Helsinki: CTY1S) is a leading owner, developer and manager of urban grocery-anchored shopping centres in the Nordic and Baltic regions, managing assets that total EUR 5 billion and with market capitalisation of EUR 2 billion. For more information about Citycon, please visit www.citycon.com
About Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.
Established in 1992, Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the world’s leading private investment firms. Cerberus has more than US $30 billion under management invested in three complementary strategies: private equity; global credit opportunities (which includes non-performing loans, corporate credit and distressed debt, mortgage securities and assets, and direct lending); and real estate. From its headquarters in New York City and network of affiliate and advisory offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia, Cerberus has the on-the-ground presence to invest in multiple asset classes globally.