Castellum, a Stockholm-listed property company, is leaving the northern coastal city of Luleå after divesting an office property which it inherited in the SEK 26 bn (€2.7 bn) Norrporten portfolio acquisition earlier this year.
Castellum said that the sales price of SEK 486 mln (€50 mln) for the 21,800 m2 office property at Lejonet 11 in Luleå exceeded the acquisition price in the Norrporten transaction by 27%. The price was also SEK 28 mln above the latest valuation.
The buyer was state-owned real estate vehicle, Specialfastigheter. The main tenants of the property include the Courts of Sweden, the Swedish Police and the Swedish Enforcement Authority. The property generates a total annual rent of SEK 33 mln based on almost 100% occupancy. The average contract length is eight years.
The sale means that Castellum is leaving Luleå. Following the Norrporten acquisition – Sweden's second-largest real estate deal – in April of this year, Castellum announced that divestments totalling at least SEK 4 bn would be made, as part of transaction financing. At this stage the sales volume is even higher: including the property divestment in Luleå, Castellum has now sold properties worth a total SEK 6.8 bn since the spring.
Meanwhile, the company continues to invest. At the moment, Castellum is running no fewer than 19 major new construction, extension, or reconstruction projects, worth a total of SEK 2.1 bn.
'Our ambition level is unchanged: to invest a net 5% of the net worth of our property portfolio every year – that is, an amount approaching SEK 10 bn over a three-year period,' said Castellum CEO Henrik Saxborn.
Castellum manages a portfolio of office, retail, warehouse and industrial property with a combined value of SEK 74 bn.
Pangea Property Partners advised Castellum in this latest deal, as it has done in three previous sales of Norrporten assets by Castellum and on the buy side in the original SEK 26 bn Noorporten acqiuisition. The four sales transactions had a combined volume of SEK 6 bn, lifting the total volume Pangea has advised on in relation to Norrporten to SEK 32 bn or €3.3 bn.