Swedish state-owned real estate firm Vasakronan is selling two office properties in Stockholm for about SEK 2.3bn (about EUR 247mln). Vasakronan has reached an agreement on the sale with another state-owned real estate company, Specialfastigheter, to honour a government request that the properties, Tre Vapen 4 and Fruktkorgen 1, stay in public hands after Vasakronan is itself sold.
Swedish state-owned real estate firm Vasakronan is selling two office properties in Stockholm for about SEK 2.3bn (about EUR 247mln). Vasakronan has reached an agreement on the sale with another state-owned real estate company, Specialfastigheter, to honour a government request that the properties, Tre Vapen 4 and Fruktkorgen 1, stay in public hands after Vasakronan is itself sold.
The Tre Vapen 4 property, which is occupied by the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration, was sold for EUR 121mln.Transfer will occur on 15 December 2008. The Fruktkorgen 1 property was sold for about EUR 126mln. The tenant is the Swedish National Courts Administration and the property will be transferred to Specialfastigheter in mid-December 2009.
Specialfastigheter owns and manages special purpose properties for a range of public bodies such as the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, the National Board of Institutional Care, the Schools for Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Sweden, the National Police Board and the Swedish Armed Forces.
The government has put Vasakronan up for sale but a market rumour in late May suggested that two potential bidders had pulled out due to the inability to acquire financing on favourable terms. Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter said that the two remaining bidders were AP Fastigheter, also owned by the Swedish state, and an unidentified US venture capital fund. The paper said the lack of competition would likely dash the government's hopes of selling Vasakronan at a premium.
The Swedish government has played down the rumour and insisted that the sales process is on track for completion within the next few weeks. Commenting on the newspaper report that there were only two partiers left in the bidding for Vasakronan, Swedish financial markets minister Mats Odell told Reuters in an interview: 'I wouldn't bet much money on that being correct.'
Vasakronan is expected to re-organise its portfolio with some sales of properties before a takeover.