Citycon sells SAMK campus building in Pori
CITYCON OYJ Press release 1 June 2017 at 9:00
Citycon has completed the sale of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences’ (SAMK) new campus building to Swedish property investor Hemsö for EUR 57 million. Following the completion of the development project and the handover to SAMK, the sale was now closed on the basis of the contract signed in 2015.
An old commercial building was demolished to make way for the now completed new build that houses SAMK’s teaching facilities on a long-term 20-year lease.
As the previous Porin Asema-aukio retail building at the centre of Pori was technically outdated and had only limited demand in retail use, the decision was made by Citycon to actively develop the property for another purpose. Citycon was selected as the developer for the campus project in a tendering process organised by the City of Pori at the start of 2014. The construction work began in early 2015.
“The new SAMK campus in Pori is an excellent demonstration of our expertise in property development. The management of education buildings is not part of our core business activity and this divestment is in line with our strategy of focusing on urban grocery-anchored shopping centres. The SAMK development project was financially successful, generating accretive returns on investment. The proceeds will be used to repay debt and thereby to strengthen our balance sheet” commented Eero Sihvonen, Citycon’s Executive Vice President and CFO.
Helsinki, 1 June 2017
CITYCON OYJ
For further information, please contact:
Eero Sihvonen, Executive VP and CFO
Telephone +358 20 766 4459 or +358 40 154 9137
eero.sihvonen@citycon.com
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