Niam, Whitehall sell Finnish shopping center

The pair of investors have sold the largest shopping center in Southeast Finland to a fund managed by Aberdeen Property Investors.

Swedish firm Niam and Goldman Sachs' Whitehall Funds, along with Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company and Apteekkien Eläkekassa, have sold the Pasaati Shopping Centre to a fund managed by Aberdeen Property Investors Finland.

The center was part of the Sisu Commercial Portfolio acquired by Niam Fund III and Whitehall Real Estate Funds in a joint venture in 2007. It is the biggest shopping centre in the southeast part of Finland, located in the city centre of Kotka.

In a statement, the partners declined to reveal the price the Kauppakeskuskiinteistöt fund had paid for the asset.

The centre comprises almost 30,000 square meters of lettable space, of which Niam owned approximately 30 percent.

Niam III is now fully invested, having completed investments in major Finnish portfolios as well as office blocks in the Marievik and Globen districts of Stockholm and a head office and central storage facility in Latvia

Follow-on vehicle Niam Fund IV raised €700 million ($1.5 billion) at the start of this year.