Niam buys €400m Swedish portfolio

Niam, the largest private equity real estate firm in Northern Europe, is to buy most of Acta Kapitalförvaltning’s commercial property holdings in Sweden in a €400 million ($501 million) deal.

In one of the largest transactions in the Nordic real estate market this year, Niam is buying the portfolio for the Niam Fund III, giving it five commercial properties with a total area of 135,000 square meters.

The properties are located in the central district of Stockholm and in Lund, and include the famous Dagens Nyheter skyscraper, a Stockholm landmark. The deal also includes the Electrolux head office. Other well-known tenants in the properties are Ericsson and the national social insurance agency.

“We are very pleased with this acquisition,” said Per Johannesson, managing partner at Niam.

In a statement, he said: “These are properties positioned in competitive locations, of a high standard and with well-known tenants.”

Swedish property is in hot demand at the moment.

Last month Aberdeen Property Investors said it expected total returns on Swedish properties to reach 11.8 percent this year, an increase relative to its original December 2005 forecast of10.1 percent.

Aberdeen said yields have fallen further than expected, leasing activity has increased particularly at modern offices in central locations and foreign investment continues to be strong. Short-term opportunistic investors have been replaced by long-term foreign institutions. Smaller cites and towns in Sweden have become increasingly popular, it added.

Nordic was founded in 1998 and has since bought €3.3 billion worth of property in conjunction with international real estate funds. Its Niam Fund III has an investment capacity of approximately €1.8 billion.