Stellar chairman and CEO Lars Jonsson tells GlobeSt.com he acquired the 12-story building from Frank Russell in 1998 for about $40 million and the Frank Russell Co., which Russell concurrently sold separate from the building, immediately leased the building back for a period of 15 years, not including multiple renewal options.
"We had a lot of equity tied up in the building and we felt it was a good time to sell because institutional players are looking for this kind of property," Jonsson tells GlobeSt.com. "We are a more entrepreneurial company and this allows us to diversify."
Jonsson says he began the process of repositioning the company's asset base, both in Europe and the US, about a year ago in order to take advantage of growth opportunities. "We brought in a new president and a new CFO in 2003 to drive what we see as an exciting period of growth ahead for SIH," he says. "The sale of the Russell Building is a key component of our strategy of growing value over the next several years."
Jeffrey Cook, SIH's new president, was formerly president and CEO of publicly traded Penford Corp. The new chief financial officer, Valerie Margulis, is the former Director of Real Estate Finance for Vulcan, Inc.
"The completion of the sale of the Russell Building will allow us to aggressively move forward a number of projects we are involved with on both sides of the Atlantic. Those range from new real estate asset and development opportunities in the Puget Sound area, several development projects in Sweden and Poland and investment opportunities we see in operating businesses as general economic activity continues to improve," adds Cook.
Jonsson tells GlobeSt.com his company's biggest assets are in Sweden, and it is just entering the Polish market. Generally, he says his company looks for infill locations in growth markets.
In Sweden, Jonsson says he has just cut a deal with the City of Stockholm for land in an old port area that will be redeveloped with apartments. In Poland, he says the company recently acquired land in Downtown Warsaw for an office development.
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