Doughty Hanson sells Stockholm retail center for $80m

The property arm of the London-based private equity firm has exited its last Stockholm shopping center in an $80m transaction.

London-based private equity firm Doughty Hanson has sold a Stockholm shopping center to Finnish property company Citycon for SEK550 million ($80 million; €61 million), as the firm continues to shed assets from its initial fund.

Tumba Centrum is a 32,000 square meter retail center in the Botkyrka area of greater Stockholm. The property also includes the municipality’s library, an art gallery, city offices and residential apartments.

Doughty Hanson acquired the complex in March 2004 and, according to a press statement, has increased occupancy to 100 percent. The firm sold its two other investments in Stockholm shopping centers—Väsby Centrum and Jakobsberg Centrum—in December 2004

It is the third sale by Doughty Hanson to Citycon in 2006. Earlier this year, Doughty Hanson sold Liljeholmstorg, an office and commercial building in Stockholm, to the property company, in addition to two shopping centers in Helsinki, Finland.

Doughty Hanson is helmed by John Howard, who took over the top spot when Marc Mogull stepped aside to launch his own firm, Benson Elliott, in 2005.

Earlier this year, Howard told Private Equity Real Estate magazine that the firm is continuing to look at Western Europe, despite the fact that many firms are moving to the emerging markets of Eastern Europe. Earlier this year, the firm acquired a portfolio of 19 commercial buildings in Kent, England for £24 million ($47 million; €36 million).

Doughty Hanson’s most recent fund, Doughty Hanson European Real Estate II, closed on €560 million earlier this year, surpassing its initial target of €500 million. The group’s debut property fund closed on $630 million in 1999.