Niam of Sweden continues to expand in Finland

The Swedish property fund Niam Fund III is making a new investment in Finland through Niam III Holding Oy. The company has signed an agreement with NCC Property Development Oy for the purchase of an office property for approximately 24 million Euro.

The building, called NCC 3, is expected to be completed in April 2007, and construction has already begun. The property’s gross area will be about 12,300 m2 , of which 6,300 m2 will be office space. About 65 per cent of this office space is already let and negotiations in respect to the unlet space are in progress with several different parties.

NCC 3 will be one of the series of NCC buildings lying along Mannerheimvägen in Brunakärr, Helsinki. When NCC 3 is completed the properties will provide office space for a total of 800-900 people. The first two buildings were completed in the summer of 2004. Their occupants include NCC, the Medical Products Agency and Tietotili. The NCC buildings offer many centralised services; these include entertainment rooms, meeting rooms and exercise rooms as well as plentiful parking spaces. There is also a restaurant in one of the existing buildings.

The contracting parties, Henrik Saxborn, Managing Partner of Niam AB, and Jorma Ahokas, President of NCC Property Development Oy, are quite pleased with the purchase.

“From the investment point of view the Finnish property market is extremely interesting,” says Henrik Saxborn of Niam. “Our goal is to grow in Finland. Over the next few years we plan to make various types of property investment in Finland worth half a billion Euro – either on our own or with partners.”

“We have created the concept ‘Future Office’ for the new NCC buildings – based on ease of interaction, open-plan layout and working satisfaction,” adds Jorma Ahokas of NCC. “NCC Property Development is testing out the offices and how well the concept works by moving into the property itself.”

This is Niam Fund III’s fifth property purchase in Finland, and brings the Fund’s total property purchases from NCC to around 95 million Euro. The properties previously purchased are Pilot 1 in Oulu, Dynamo in Tampere and Plaza Alto in Helsinki, and also Opus 3 in Helsinki, which is still in course of construction.

Illustrations of the new property can be downloaded from: www.niam.se

Photographs of the contracting parties can be downloaded from:
www.niam.se (Henrik Saxborn) and www.ncc.fi (Jorma Ahokas)

For further information please contact:

Henrik Saxborn, Managing Partner, Niam AB +46 8 5175 8547 or +46 8 708 44 30 47,
henrik.saxborn@niam.se

Jorma Ahokas, President, NCC Property Development Oy, +358 10 507 5431 or +358 50 67 390,
jorma.ahokas@ncc.fi

Note to the editor:

NIAM 
Niam is one of the leading private equity firms in the Nordic and Baltic region specialising in property. Niam offer financial investors a high return via investments in funds that in turn invest in all types of properties. The funds are raised and managed on a discretionary basis by Niam. Since the company was founded in 1998, properties with a total value of EUR 2.6 billion have been acquired by Niam’s funds or in association with international real estate funds. Today, Niam has owner responsibility for properties valued at EUR 1.6 billion. Niam has three fully invested funds. Niam Fund III currently has EUR 321 million in equity commitment, which corresponds to an investment capacity of approximately 1.5 to 2 billion Euro.

NCC PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT 
NCC Property Development is a competitively strong company that acquires and sells office and retail properties. The company also lets out its properties, which are strategically located, of high quality and profitable. The company continually develops and markets new business ideas and new opportunities for exploiting sites. NCC Property Development concentrates on properties and on other services of warranted quality and cost.