Nrep and Pontos to develop Helsinki Airport and Aviapolis area
Nrep and Pontos Oy have acquired a majority interest in Finavia’s subsidiary LAK Real Estate Oy with the objective to strengthen the overall development of the Helsinki Airport and Aviapolis area
The strategic investment by Nrep and Pontos into the state land and real estate company LAK Real Estate Oy is made with the ambition to develop the existing and future real estate infrastructure in the airport area and the airport city Aviapolis. Upon completion of the investment, Nrep and Pontos Oy will own 31% and 20%, of LAK Real Estate Oy, respectively, which among other assets currently owns a portfolio of 15 existing properties by the airport in addition to significant areas of strategic development land in Aviapolis.
Air traffic at Helsinki Airport is growing rapidly, causing an increasing demand for real estate infrastructure to support the larger scale of operations. Similarly, the nearby airport city Aviapolis has grown steadily in size and attraction over the past years and now plays an important role also for the continued development for the city of Vantaa. The long-term plan for Aviapolis includes developing more than 200,000 square metres of residential, office and service property over the next decades.
“Aviapolis is a unique, international airport city. Its location has made it one of the fastest growing business areas in the Helsinki region. We are excited about the opportunity to become an owner and developer of the dynamic airport area,” says Mikko Räsänen, Partner at Nrep.
“We are very pleased to bring our expertise to the airport area, which is of strategic importance to the City of Vantaa. Together with Nrep, we want to ensure that LAK Real Estate has sufficient resources for rapidly developing the area,” says Timo Kokkila, CEO of Pontos.
The Helsinki Airport area currently has approximately 20,000 jobs, and the number is expected to continue growing in the future. The agreement between Nrep, Pontos and Finavia supports the strengthening of Helsinki Airport as an important European air traffic hub.
“This cooperation will improve the opportunities to develop Aviapolis into an internationally recognized airport city. The development of the airports and their adjacent areas into new hubs is a rising trend in urban development. This agreement will enable us to achieve the goals set for Aviapolis as a growth centre of Vantaa better than before,” says Hannu Penttilä, Deputy Mayor of the City of Vantaa.
For additional information please contact:
Mikko Räsänen, Partner, Nrep, +358 9 674 410
Timo Kokkila, CEO, Pontos, +358 10 239 6359, @timokokkila
Nrep is a leading Nordic real estate investment firm focused on defensive value-add investment strategies in select segments of the Nordic market. Nrep was established in 2005 and has since then raised 11 funds and built market leading operating platforms in modern logistics, self-storage, necessity driven retail, student housing and middle-income residential. The firm has achieved an average +20% IRR on its investments since inception with no single year of losses and is ranked as “the most consistently outperforming real estate investment manager worldwide” by Preqin in 2017. The firm currently has total assets under management of €3.3 billion and employs 100 professionals across its offices in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo and Luxembourg.
Pontos is a family-owned Finnish company that selectively invests in different industries in Finland and abroad. We are an active owner that invests directly in real estate, real estate development and growth companies. We believe in good working culture and have the patience for long-term development. Pontos’ portfolio companies (Pontos’ ownership >10%) employ more than 6,000 persons and own more than 500,000 m2 of real estate.
LAK Real Estate is a real estate company with a portfolio of more than 136,000 square meters of lettable area. The company owns, among others, the Hilton hotel and the WTC office building located at the Helsinki airport area. In addition, LAK is a large land owner at the Aviapolis area.
Finavia is a Finnish airport operator that provides and develops airport services in Finland with focus on safety, customer-orientation and cost efficiency. Finavia’s comprehensive network of 21 airports enables international connections from Finland and to different parts of Finland. Corporate revenues in 2016 were 381MEUR and the number of employees 1.900